


Running Around My Head

by 50degrees



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 52,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27585568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/50degrees/pseuds/50degrees
Summary: Kara was a track star in college and upon graduating has trouble finding a job in journalism, so her sister Alex offers for her to move to the city and share her apartment. She quickly finds a job at a local running store for the time being where a non-athletic Lena stops in for help with staying active, because apparently her doctor thinks 80 hour work weeks at a desk are unhealthy. Also, Kara is very clumsy.orKara gets a job at a running store and Lena joins her beginners running group.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 180
Kudos: 468





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at a fanfic :)
> 
> *Slight insinuation of body image issues in this chapter

All throughout college Kara was known as fast. She was the star on the track team, she was always the first person to arrive to any social event and she proudly held the college town record for number of wings consumed in 30 minutes at her favorite diner. So, when Kara graduated college with her degree in journalism, but had no job prospects after months of searching, she was going a little crazy. The stagnant lifestyle was not for Kara. Living at home where her days drudged on with endless scrolling on job sites and internet applications were becoming dull and she didn’t think she could take any more. 

Thankfully, her older sister, Alex, had taken pity on her and offered to have Kara move into her apartment in National City. It wasn’t a job, but the welcome change in scenery may have well been a life raft because it was saving her from drowning in her monotony.

So Kara had packed up her belongings in her barely drivable car and drove until her GPS on her phone stated “You have arrived at your destination”. The neighborhood looked less city-like and more quaint with a corner store down the street and a family owned sandwich shop across the street. Trees lined the blocks seeming to emerge from the concrete sidewalks with their leaves rustling in the wind. It was nearing the end of summer now, but National City still had sunshine and moderate heat…so perfect running weather. Kara thought she could get used to living here. 

A slender woman with cropped chestnut hair excitedly ran up to her driver side window and screamed out, “KARA!” startling the blonde still admiring her new surroundings. 

“Shit Alex!” Kara expelled with a whoosh of relief placing her hand to her chest. She opened her car door and tackled the older woman into a tight embrace. They had pretty much always been annoyingly close, at least since Kara had been adopted into Alex’s family as a child. Ever since that first night at the Danvers’ house where Alex gave Kara her teddy bear to sleep with and told her, “This is Benji, he used to keep me safe, but now I think it should be his job to keep you safe.” Young Kara had looked up into her new big sisters’ eyes with a sheepish smile and knew after the hell she’d been through, she would be okay. So over the years their bond grew to a level of understood love and trust underneath their constant teasing and banter. 

“Oh, you’re fine, I’m just so excited you’re here! Let’s get your stuff out of this piece of junk, shall we?” Alex asked while trying to get out of her sister’s death grip of a hug. The women were able to carry all of Kara’s belongings in one trip, which included a very large suitcase, a duffel bag filled to the brim with running shoes (which Alex scoffed at) and her backpack storing her computer and a hodgepodge of her favorite books. 

When Alex opened the door to her apartment Kara stepped inside with a newfound excitement. It was an open floor plan with high ceilings and large windows looking over the city streets. The older brunette led her to the back of the apartment where there were doors leading to the bathroom, Alex’s room and Alex’s office/Kara’s new bedroom. 

“So I’m still figuring out the bed situation for you, but I was able to borrow an air mattress from a friend at work.”

“Wait, wait, wait…you have friends? Kara joked as Alex playfully slapped her sister with the back of her hand. 

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Alex had started working for the FBI within the past year, and really liked to remind her sister that she could tap her phones if she wanted (which wasn’t true…or was it?). Within that time she had frequently been working cases with local police, one of which was Detective Maggie Sawyer AKA owner of the air mattress. “It should work for now, but we can look into finding you a big kid mattress soon.”

“It’s fine Alex, I’m just glad to be out of the house. I mean I love Mom, but there’s only so much hovering a girl can take.” 

The rest of the evening was spent exchanging stories over a box of pizza and some beers at the kitchen table. When Alex finally caved and called it a night, Kara ventured over to her new living quarters and unpacked her clothes into the small closet, organized her shoes at the bottom and dug out Benji the Bear from her suitcase to place on the desk next to her bed. She took a quick shower, changed into her PJs covered in tiny donuts and climbed into her semi-comfortable air mattress. That night Kara fell asleep to the sound of cars passing by outside and the promise of a new beginning in the morning. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been surprisingly easy to find a job in National City (much to Kara’s relief). She had decided to just look for something in retail while she was figuring out how to apply her actual degree in journalism to something. Alex’s friend James owned a running store downtown “Always on the Run” and she had convinced him to give Kara an interview where she was offered a job on the spot. It didn’t take long for him to realize that she would be an asset to his business when she went on a 20 minute rant about how much she missed running for her college team. So she had started immediately and quickly learned the ins and outs of his store. 

Fast forward one month and Kara finds herself working the last shift by herself bored out of her mind. James had asked her to see if she could find a better organizational system for the stock in the back, but Kara had been putting it off until the last minute. 

So with about an hour left of work she found herself knee deep in reorganizing shoe boxes in the back of the store when she heard the ringing of the bell indicating a new customer had wandered in. She groaned as she took in the mess she had made in an attempt to perfect her organizational system. “The Home Edit makes it look so easy…” Kara muttered as she blew some stray hair out of her face through the corner of her mouth. There were shoe boxes as far as the eye could see, some even partly opening the curtain the store manager, James, had hung up in order to block the customer’s view from where Kara’s systematic mess was growing by the minute. 

She stood up and hollered out to the front, “I’ll be right there!” Kara looked out of the partial opening allowing the view to the front of the store and saw a woman wearing…4 inch stiletto heels? That can’t be right, she thought. She must need change for the meters or something because there’s no way this woman came to a running store on purpose. 

The next few moments happened in slow motion. Kara started to navigate her way through the organized chaos that was the back room to greet her new customer when her foot got caught on the corner of one of those menacing shoeboxes. She tried to catch herself by grabbing onto the nearest piece of furniture. That just so happened to be a shelving unit that would have saved her…had there still been a load of shoes weighing it down, which were now strewn about the floor. So it happened like this: Kara walked. Kara lost balance. Kara brought down an entire shelving unit knocking over her organizational progress. Kara screamed “OH SHIT!” Kara faceplanted. 

The blonde almost didn’t want to open her eyes to see the damage that now surrounded her. In fact, she didn’t open her eyes until she heard a faint :click, click, click: rushing towards her and thought she may have been imagining things and suffered a concussion in the fall. A pale face emerged from between the curtains exclaiming, “Oh my God, are you okay?!”

Kara risked it and opened her eyes to see where all these words were coming from. Immediately she thought,” I must have died. I died and a literal angel is now greeting me.”

She looked up into emerald green eyes showing a look of concern with a hint of unease towards her framed by long dark hair brushing over her face in her heist to reach the commotion. The woman was dressed in a crisp black blazer, white button up and pencil skirt to match…along with those stiletto heels. “Right”, Kara thought “So no concussion then.”

She waited expectantly for Kara to respond, but it was all she could do to stare back at her concerned customer with a look of confusion, pain and slight panic regarding the sheer overwhelming beauty of this woman. 

“Fuck, okay, um, do you know what year it is? Do you know your name? Do you know where you are? I think those are the questions you’re supposed to ask, right?” The raven haired woman asked expecting an answer to one of her inquiries. 

Kara blinked a few times coming out of her trance. “KARA” she blurted, immediately regretting the volume she just spoke as her head throbbed. “Let me try that again, 2020, Kara Danvers and I’m lying in a pile of 2 hours of wasted time.” She replied a little more calmly. 

The customer’s look of concern faded into a smirk. “Well seeing as I don’t know your name I’m going to assume you’ve answered at least 2 out of those 3 correctly.” 

Kara smiled in return. The other woman seemed to be having an internal debate based on the emotions fleeting across her face, but ultimately appeared to come to a decision. She tentatively offered her slender hand to help Kara up off of the floor. It was warm and just as soft as Kara had imagined…in the past several minutes. 

As Kara managed to right herself with assistance she reactively did a couple of stretches to make sure everything was in working order. As she lifted her hands in the air her shirt rose up the slightest bit revealing a tan and toned stomach while Kara noticed the customer’s gaze drifting south of the former eye contact. “So, what can I help you with…?” Kara questioned expecting the other woman to fill in the blank with her name. “I told you mine, so it’s only fair I know yours…as well as the current year and your location,” Kara joked. 

“Uhh, what-right!” the customer startled with a blush dusting her cheeks, while simultaneously wrapping her arms around her own body in a self-conscious manner. “Lena…er, just Lena is fine.”

“Alright just Lena,” Kara stated with a quirk to her lips, “Apart from being privy to one of my most embarrassing moments, what can I help you with today?”

Kara stepped to the side and held the curtains open for her and guided Lena out to the front of the store. It was painted with navy blue walls and white accents with light hardwood floors that creaked ever so slightly underfoot. A cash register area was on the far left that also had a beat up couch next to it, while the entire far right wall housed a lengthy display of brightly colored running shoes. Two benches were arranged parallel to each other for customers to sit while picking out their perfect pair of shoes and racks of clothing were dispersed throughout the remainder of the space. The two women made their way to the middle of the space to continue their conversation.

Lena looked down with another blush creeping through her pale skin. “Well I’ve just come from my doctor’s office and apparently working 80 hour weeks while sitting hunched over a desk isn’t a “healthy lifestyle choice” as he put it. Anyway, I need to do some form of activity and need the proper footwear.” As she gestured towards the wall strewn with colorful shoes. 

“Well, you’ve come to the right place! Take a seat and we can figure out your shoe size and what you need in a shoe.”

Lena furrowed her brow with a look of confusion, “Can’t I just pick a pair...I mean these look like they would suffice,” as she walked over and picked up a shoe from the display.

Kara did not try to hide her displeasure with that statement. “Well, first of all, those are men’s shoes, so we probably wouldn’t have your size. Second of all, you are literally shopping for an extension of your body!” she stated as she held up her own foot donning a scuffed and slightly dirt covered running shoe. “You need to find something that literally feels like you aren’t wearing anything and just connecting with the earth the natural way your body wants to move,” Kara described with a look of excitement etched on her face. 

Lena blew a puff of air from her red stained lips in frustration with slight amusement, “Fine, but measuring is unnecessary. I’ve always been a size 7, so just bring out what you would recommend please.”

Kara beamed and started making her way to the back of the store. “I’ll go see what we have! You may want to check out our clothes and socks as well, if this whole exercise thing is new to you. I may not know much, but I’m pretty sure it’s hard to run in a pencil skirt.”

Lena glanced down at her outfit with a knowing look, “Point taken.” 

As Kara was busy gathering some options from the back Lena looked focused browsing the clothing items displayed throughout the store. The employee glanced out to the main store floor in between navigating the fallen shelves and making her stack of boxes to bring out. She saw the woman running her hands over the soft fabrics and gathering at least one of everything it seemed, which made her wonder what this woman did that she could afford all of this? Kara shook her head and thought to herself, “this is none of your business, just be happy you get to brag about this huge sale to your coworkers later.”

Kara pushed the curtains aside using her foot and returned balancing several boxes while peering just over the top most trying to navigate to the benches with relative grace. Lena was seated with her legs crossed and hands folded on her knee, waiting patiently with a pile of clothing next to her. She raised one eyebrow with skepticism at the tall pile Kara was carrying, while also giving a chuckle. 

The employee carefully placed the stack of shoeboxes on the bench across from Lena and took a seat next to them so she was across from the raven-haired woman. She instructed Lena to grab a set of the socks in her pile of bounty next to her since she assumed socks were not worn with stiletto heels, but were required to try shoes. 

“Alright, let’s get started and see if we can find a glass slipper in this pile”, Kara clapped her hands together with a smile playing on her lips. 

Lena looked at her with questioning eyes, “I’m sorry, what are we trying to find?”

The retail worker glanced up from organizing her boxes of shoes with disbelief. “Your glass slipper? From the classic princess movie everyone had on VHS as a kid?” The customer blankly stared as if her explanation was wasted on her. 

“You know, there’s an evil step mother, fairy godmother and the girl loses her glass slipper and the only way for her prince to find her is to have all of these women try it on until he gets the perfect fit?” Kara explained while gesticulating wildly. Still no reaction. Who was this woman? 

“I guess I wasn’t every kid then,” Lena shrugged, but the slightest look of sadness crossed her face before being replaced with her neutral façade. “However, that movie sounds quite ridiculous. Who in their right mind would wear glass shoes? Very impractical.”

Even though everything this woman wore and expressed oozed confidence, Kara couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming amount of pity for her. Working 80 hour weeks cooped up in an office, no exposure to Disney movies as a child and wearing 4 inch heels every day?! With what little information she had about Lena she already wanted to brighten her world in some way. 

“You know, if this exercise thing is new to you we offer a beginners running group. It’s really cool, we meet up every Saturday and sometimes during the week. Is that something you would be interested in?”

The other woman laughed, “I’m pretty sure I can figure out how to put one foot in front of the other by myself, thanks.”

Kara scoffed, “It’s a good way to meet people and have accountability! The coaches go through guided stretches and plan all of the workouts, so it basically saves your precious work time. Plus, there’s donuts after!” Kara looked eager. Maybe a little too eager because she could see Lena thinking this over…and 10 long seconds later still thinking it over. 

Suddenly she turned fidgety like she couldn’t figure out how to express herself. “Will, um, you be there as well?” 

Kara gave her brightest smile and replied, “Well there are donuts, so of course I’ll be there! I actually help coach, so if anyone asks, that’s the real reason I will be there.” She punctuated her statement with an adorable wink. 

Lena looked pleased and started to look a little flush. “Ha, well you’re secret is safe with me. I guess you can sign me up for the group, truth of the matter is I don’t get out very much so along with my level of activity, my social life could use some work I guess…” That flash of sadness crossed her face again as she looked in the distance past Kara, but quickly vanished as she shook her head.

Yep, Kara had some work to do. 

Lena ended up only having to try on a couple pairs of shoes before she found ones to her (and Kara’s) liking. All of her new clothes and shoes were rung up by at the cash register as Kara gave her formal information regarding the first running group meetup that Saturday. As the items were bagged up with Kara joking about winning this quarter’s employee of the month from the sale, Lena smiled politely and left the store with promise to return at the end of the week. Kara stared after her for a couple seconds too long before realizing what she was doing. Lena seemed like she could use a friend, and to be honest, Kara could use one too. Making her way over to the rejected shoes she boxed them back up while smiling to herself and made her way to the back of the store halting as soon as she passed the curtains. She had completely forgot it had been left in disarray and the store was closing soon. 

Her smile slowly faded to a grimace, “Well shit.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena finally tries running and Kara just wants a donut already.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful for Kara with the exception of James giving her a hard time for “revamping” the back room a.k.a. tearing it apart and reassembling it past closing on the night she met Lena. It required a bit of manual labor, but she only had to stay an extra hour to get everything back in working order. All the while hoping that she would see the raven-haired woman at the conclusion of the week. 

Finally, Kara awoke on Saturday morning after a restless sleep and much too early for her liking. The sun permeated through her dark blue curtains that Alex had put up for her after complaints of not being able to sleep in on her days off due to “being nearly blinded by the jerk sun rays.” It was going to be a gorgeous day outside according to the weather app on her phone and Kara was mentally sorting through her wardrobe to think of the cutest/most professional clothing combination that she owned. 

She was nervous for her first day of being assistant coach for the beginners running group and also slightly excited to see if Lena would show. She had this air of mystery about her that made Kara want to find out more. “How was it physically possible to work 80 hour work weeks? Where were these 80 hours happening? How on earth did she not own sneakers until now?!”

Ultimately, Kara decided on simple black tights with pockets and a light blue razor back tank top showing off her tan and well defined shoulders. After taking care of her morning routine in the bathroom she threw on her favorite pair of running shoes and went out into the kitchen to make a bagel with peanut butter only to find Alex staring at the toaster. She wasn’t supposed to work today, so it left Kara curious as to why she was awake at this hour and dressed in workout clothing. 

“You know I read a study that said the longer you stare at something correlates directly with how fast it work,” Kara teased.

Alex turned to her with a death stare, “Choose your next words carefully, because we all know I’m not a morning person and am trained in 3 ways to kill you without leaving evidence.”

Kara held her hands up in surrender, “Woah there killer, what has you so cheery this morning?”

The bagel in the toaster popped up and made the two women jump as they were both still bleary eyed.

“Maggie convinced me to try a yoga class this morning in the park.” Alex avoided eye contact during that explanation and started slathering her bagel with an unhealthy amount of cream cheese. Kara’s sister had come out when they were both in high school so Kara had learned to know the signs of when Alex was crushing on a girl…and voluntarily doing exercise, let alone in the morning, meant she had it bad.

“So this Maggie, is she hot?” 

Alex stared like a deer in the headlights with a mouthful of bagel. She almost choked with how fast she tried to swallow and respond to this question/accusation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just going to go enjoy the outdoors with my friend that my…” She stopped and seemed to give up on the charade she was trying to pull. “Okay fine, yes, she’s ridiculously hot and I think she might be flirting with me so I’m going to go be miserable with the hopes of asking her out! Happy?!”

By this point Kara had put her own bagel in the toaster and was rummaging through the cabinets looking for her precious peanut butter. She turned to her love struck sister with a genuine smile, “I am actually.” It had been awhile since her older sister had dated, with her busy work schedule it was hard to find the time to date let alone find someone that understood her time commitment to her job. “I’m also happy because now you can drive me to work since it’s on the way to your pre-date torture.”

Alex grumbled, but also had a smile creeping onto her face, “Fine, but I choose the music.”

The two women finished making/eating the rest of their breakfast in silence, mentally preparing for their respective morning activities. Kara knew that the cold of the early morning would still be lingering outside so she threw on a worn gray college track zip up hoodie to stave off the chill. “Danvers” was embroidered overtop her heart in a dull red with her college mascot on the back. There. She was ready for this. 

The drive to Kara’s work went by quickly (but also had a soundtrack of hard metal music, thanks to Alex). She realized that she would end up being about 30 minutes early to the training group because Alex’s yoga class started earlier. As they pulled up to her store Kara wished Alex luck with “courting her woman”, which gave Kara a deserved elbow in the side. As she opened the car door Alex practically shoved her out of the vehicle, “I don’t want to be late, but go get’em Coach Danvers!”

Kara made her way inside the store and saw James, the owner, and Winn her coworker chatting on the couch by the front register. James would be the main coach of the training group planning/organizing workouts and Winn and Kara had volunteered to be the assistant coaches, which entailed roaming around to make sure all participants felt supported. The two men were deep in debate and hadn’t noticed Kara had even walked in the store until she yelled, “GOOD MORNING COACHES!” 

They looked up with a look of excitement etched on their faces. Winn stood up and started to explain, “Thank God you’re here Kara, you can settle our dispute…it’s very important so think very carefully. Okay, should we get classic glazed donuts that everyone will like, or a bunch of random ones where we will have the gross leftovers to finish ourselves?” 

Kara looked thoughtful while stroking her chin, “While glazed donuts do have the promise of overall likability, I must say I prefer a variety. You’re more likely to get people’s favorites…and, Winn, I’m very disappointed that you think any donuts are gross. I expected better from you.”

“Told you!” James yells at Winn with a smile. “Thanks Danvers, I knew there was a reason I hired you.” He walked over and gave Kara a high five. “No offense Winn.”

“As long as someone hands me a glazed donut after this training, no offense will be taken.” Winn shoots finger guns over to the pair with an alarming sincerity.

Kara has worked alongside Winn for about a month now and they have progressively gotten pretty close as work friends. Their banter has gotten on a solid brother/sister level in her opinion and he definitely makes slow days at work bearable. 

James grabbed his wallet from the counter. “Alright underlings, I’m going to go pick up our sugary goodness for later. Hold down the fort while I’m gone and if anyone shows up turn on the charm and make small talk until I’m back.”

“Will do, boss-man,” Kara says as she plops down next to Winn on their well-loved work couch while the man next to her gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. 

James gave a salute and walked out the door of the shop leaving Kara and Winn to their own devices, which quickly turns into them exchanging anxieties about helping coach, but then welcoming the first few runners in the store. It was nice talking to people who were excited about starting a journey. Memories of when Kara first started running came flooding back into her mind. After being adopted Kara had trouble processing all of the changes. Sure, the Danvers’ were great people, but it was obviously a huge adjustment and coping with the loss of her parents was a whole other demon. Running gave her an escape from that, it quickly became her safe haven. Her journey for healing.

James returned a short while later carrying 2 boxes of donuts, or not enough boxes of donuts in Kara’s opinion. About 15 people showed up for the group, but whenever Kara looked around the room she couldn’t find those emerald eyes that had graced her presence earlier in the week. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed. 

James rung the cashier assistance bell to get everyone’s attention. “Good Morning everyone, and welcome to the first day of the beginner’s running group!” Kara and Winn had made their way next to James behind the counter as he started talking about runner safety and what they would be doing for their first session. As he was explaining the route they would be taking the door to the shop opened and a woman made her way into the crowd. 

Kara’s lips twitched into a small smile…it was Lena. The stark contrast to her overall appearance when compared to their first meeting is evident. Kara noticed she was wearing one of the outfits from the store, a pair of simple running shorts and a form fitting dark purple t shirt. While she had appeared very much in command of her own space and confident earlier in the week, she now looked almost sheepish and unsure of herself. 

“Alright everyone, let’s head to the parking lot next door for some warm up drills!” announced James. Once outside he split everyone up into 3 groups so that himself, Winn and Kara could all instruct at the same time. The groups were assigned and Kara made her way over to the one on the far left. There were 5 people in her group…one of which was Lena. 

“Hello runners! My name is Kara, I’ll be your friendly neighborhood assistant running coach this morning.” She leaned in to the group and whispered, “Don’t tell anyone, but this group is totally the coolest and way better than the other groups.” This statement was punctuated with a wink and it earned a chuckle from everyone in the circle. Maybe she could do this. 

She organized the group in a line and started some warm up drills while providing a demonstration first. Kara noticed Lena placed herself in the back of the line and was intensely observing the first person do some high knees down the parking lot. The assistant coach made her way over next to her while keeping her eyes trained ahead. 

“Nice shoes. I bet a really cool person probably helped pick those out for you.” Kara joked.

Lena seemed startled as she had still been transfixed on memorizing the movement that was soon to be expected from her. “If by cool you mean completely clumsy, then yes, I believe you are correct…Danvers,” Lena deadpanned. She turned to Kara with a smirk looking at the name embroidered on her sweatshirt, while Kara pretended to be offended.

“Cool, clumsy and charming, thank you very much.” Kara proudly announced as Lena scoffed at this remark, but didn’t disagree. She then turned to face Lena with a genuine smile, “But for real, I’m glad you decided to come.” 

Lena didn’t seem to expect this level of honesty to arise and appeared caught off guard by it. “Yeah, um, we’ll see I guess.” 

After that Kara went back to an area where she could see everyone do the drill so she could provide tips and encouragement. Kara had always been the one relying on her own coach throughout high school and college for advice or support, so it felt a bit foreign to the be one now providing that for others. She liked it though, it made her feel empowered and like she was actually “doing something” other than trolling journalism job postings. 

Before she knew it, it was time to combine all 3 groups and head out for the main event. They were only doing 2 miles, but with James and Winn in front and Kara in the back of the pack in case people needed to take walking breaks. Kara ended up being by herself for the most part seeing as the majority of the group were able to keep a good pace, but when they were a mile in she noticed the woman with long raven hair tied up in a pony tail slowly drifting back towards her until finally she stopped and whispered, “Fucking hell, I hate this shit,” to herself. She was slouched over with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath as Kara made her way up to her, lightly placing a hand on her back and crouching down to make sure she was okay.

Lena startled at the touch, but when she realized who it was she just shook her head, “Don’t.” 

Kara could hear the frustration in her tone and knew what it felt like when you had to stop like this. The answer is, it sucked. So she removed her hand and just stood next to her doing some stretches and waiting for Lena to gather herself. 

After about a minute Kara sees Lena straighten up out of the corner of her eye. She looks defeated, mentally and physically, which does not bode well for her wanting to return. 

“Let’s walk for a bit, yeah?” 

Lena doesn’t say anything, but acknowledges that she heard Kara by starting to walk straight ahead. She shoves her hands in the pockets of her shorts and stares at the ground. Her hair that was once up in a proper high pony tail is now slightly askew with wispy tendrils poking out by her ears. Her cheeks have a pink hue to them with sweat beading on her neck and disappearing down her t-shirt. 

They walk in silence for a couple blocks and it seems Lena has collected herself where she may be receptive to talking…or at least listening. “I can’t touch my toes,” Kara blurts out. 

Lena turns and looks at her with a quizzical look, “Okay?”

“I mean, well, I’m not flexible, like at all. If Gumby had an opposite, that would be me. Anyway, my track coach in college told me I should go to a yoga classes to work on it. Plus, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my body awareness can use some improvement.” Kara looked over to see if the other woman was listening and saw a barely there smile from her previous comment…her plan was working.

Kara continued her story, “So I figured, it should be pretty easy, right? The women on the internet always make it look so simple and relaxing. So I go to this class and I’m all ready to get my downward dog on.” (Lena outright lets out a snort at this) “Long story short is I get my ass handed to me. I fell over several times. I could only do like 20% of the poses, the rest I just tried to do something that resembled them. It was the worst, I was so embarrassed when the class was over I literally ran out of there.”

Kara took a beat to observe their surroundings and make sure they were still on the right path. To her relief, they were and only had about a half mile left until they returned to the running store. However, Lena was waiting patiently for the end of this story. “And what? You never did yoga again, because that wasn’t a very inspirational story if that’s the ending.”

“Right! Sorry, my coach ended up pairing me with another girl on my team who was like a hardcore Yogi. Lucy…she was, yeah, she ended up being a really good friend for a while...” Kara stared in the distance thinking back to that time. Her memories were tinged with sadness and a frown clouded her face from her usual happy disposition. Lena observed her, but didn’t say anything if she noticed.

Kara was able to regroup and return to her story, “She worked with me one on one for a while until I felt comfortable to go back to the class by myself…which I totally crushed by the way.” Kara looked very proud of herself, but still had a hint of gloom in her eyes at the memory. She couldn’t think about that right now though, so she blinked a couple of times and turned to smile at Lena. “So even though it’s hard now, the more you do it the easier it will get.”

Lena observed her for a minute and seemed to have a question on the tip of her tongue. Instead just stated, “Thanks for that.”

“Anytime running buddy,” Kara chimed. “Speaking of running, how about we try to make it back to the store without stopping? I totally think we can do it. Are you in or are you in?”

Lena groaned, “I don’t like either of those options, but you’ve been very accommodating so I guess I could give it a go.”

Kara threw her fist in the air in victory, “Yeah you can! Do it for the donuts!”

Lena put her face in her hands as if she was embarrassed to be seen with the woman next to her. Kara didn’t care. The two women started a slow jog, Kara making sure to be mindful of her pace and let Lena choose the speed. All the while Kara would make little funny comments or pointing out cute dogs to distract Lena from what they were doing. Before she knew it they could see a group of people milling about the front of the running store. 

Kara looked over at the exasperated woman next to her as Lena sputtered, “Oh thank God it’s almost over!”

Kara genuinely laughed at this comment. The two made it to the store and stopped on the outskirts of the group. Lena quickly left Kara’s side to find some water at the cooler, while Kara made a B-line for the table with the pink boxes holding her post run prize. Winn was standing behind the table holding a glazed donut in his hand. “Oh, hey Kara, umm, don’t be mad, okay? But, uh, we weren’t expecting this many people and you guys are the last ones here so…”

Kara tore open the lid to the box exposing nothing but crumbs. Her face fell. “NOOOOOOO! Ughhh, whyyyyy?!” 

Kara turned around to avoid looking at her once coveted box, now lay wasteland to her sugary dreams just to bump right into something and then feel wet and cold all of the sudden. 

“Oh my God, what’s happening?” Kara was confused at the unexpected feeling, but looked up to find Lena holding two now empty cups with their contents dripping down Kara’s torso.

“I um, got you some water to go with your donut…but I see now you don’t have either…because of me.” Lena looked so crestfallen it was breaking Kara’s heart and any disappointment she had prior disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

Kara started to console Lena, “Hey, it’s fine, I was hot anyway. And if you wanted a wet t-shirt contest, you should have just asked.”

Lena blushed at this comment, but didn’t really show any signs of relief, “But your donut…”

Winn was still across the table looking at his glazed donut, then at Kara, then at his glazed donut and finally seemed to come to a conclusion and tore off a piece placing it in a napkin and handing it over.

“Winn! Buddy, you’re the best! Have I ever told you that glazed donuts are so much better then variety?” She knew she was making a bigger deal then necessary, but wanted to make sure Lena felt better about this whole situation. 

Winn smiled, “Yeah, yeah. Just don’t say I never gave you nothin.” He walked away with a wave to check on the other runners as Kara turned to Lena with the donut offering to reinforce that everything was, in fact, fine. However, Lena did not appear convinced.

“I doubt this is what you were envisioning, Kara.” Lena said as the piece of donut had already mysteriously vanished into Kara’s mouth. 

It was the first time Lena had said her first name out loud and she liked the way it sounded coming from her. So much so that she decided to do something bold. Kara licked the glaze remnants on her lips, “Well what if you bring me a donut another time? Like a raincheck, but in donut form?” Kara really wanted to see Lena again and she was growing fearful that after today she wouldn’t want to set foot near this store again. 

Lena seemed to contemplate this, “How will I know if you’re working?”

“You know we have these handy dandy things nowadays called cell phones where we can communicate things like that to each other?”

“You mean, you want my phone number?”

Kara started to lose her confidence, “Umm, yeah, I mean, if you’re comfortable with that? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I just figured it would be easy that way, but I could like……”

Lena cut off Kara stumbling over her words, “No it’s fine. Give me your phone?”

Lena proceeded to input her number in Kara’s phone as Kara realized she should probably be following Winn’s lead and walking around to check on the other runners. Lena handed the phone back and seemed to notice Kara’s fidgeting.

She gave Kara a knowing look and a barely there smile to no doubt show she was feeling better about the situation. “You should probably get back to work, I’ve pulled you away long enough I think.”

Kara rubbed the back of her neck, “Absolutely not, but I should probably putz around. The work of an assistant coach is never done after all,” she said jokingly, but didn’t move from the spot she was standing. Instead, she had an idea and took out her phone and began typing. Her tongue peeked out the side of her mouth in concentration. Lena’s phone made a sound and Kara then decided to take her leave. “Alright then, bye Lena!”

The rest of the morning Kara spent chatting up other runners to talk about their experience and encouraging them to return. She glanced around sporadically hoping to catch Lena’s gaze, but she was nowhere to be found. People began filtering out and Kara, Winn and James cleaned up the trash to get ready for the work day ahead. Eventually, the two assistance coaches ended up on the couch inside, while James was busy in the back. 

“So Kara, who was that girl who dumped that water on you?”( Luckily, it had gotten warmer and the water once on Kara’s shirt had dissipated quickly.) 

In Kara’s haste to be a good employee and talk to the other runners, she had totally forgotten to check her messages. She grabbed her phone from her side pocket in her tights and saw 1 new message. 

Kara: Monday-Thursday, 12-close. My favorite is chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles…hold the water :)

Lena: That would be your favorite…see you soon then, Danvers.

Kara smiled and turned to Winn, “She’s a new friend.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara waits for her new friend to deliver what she's promised, but it takes longer than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to get better at an internal monologue happening with Kara. I hope you like it!

It was Thursday of the following week and there had been no sign of Lena at the store. Every day Kara would go into work with a fresh hope and a pep in her step wondering if today was the day she would get to see her new friend again AND get a free donut. But every day she would then lock up at closing, feeling disappointed…and hungry. If she was being honest it was getting a bit exhausting, a little like being on a roller coaster from hell. Each morning it felt like she would be steadily ascending the climb of hope that Lena would walk in her place of work. The way her body would internally jolt like struck by lightning whenever she heard the door creak open was so exciting. She would then reach the top of that feeling and fall head first with an empty feeling in her heart. 

Alex was starting to take note of Kara’s good mood mornings and grumpy nights (as she started to call them). She ended up having an eventful weekend with Maggie (they ended up getting brunch together after yoga). Nothing romantic yet, but Alex definitely seemed hopeful at the prospect. This was fine at the beginning of the week, but as each day passed it was growing to be increasingly annoying to hear her sister talk about how great Maggie was when all she wanted was to see or hear from Lena. 

She had almost texted her a dozen times, with her thumb hovering over the send button on her phone, but every time she would move it a couple centimeters over and press delete until her attempt at being charming disappeared. Kara had Winn and James at the store as well as her sister, maybe she didn’t need another friend, right?…is what she told herself every day she didn’t hear from Lena. 

Today was no different, and Kara was losing hope of ever looking into those emerald eyes again. It had been bustling when Kara first got into work, but there was a current lull that left both her and Winn bored. Making the decision to be productive, they had started putting out a new shipment of clothing received the day prior. 

Kara had been trying to hide her sullen moods throughout the week, but she was sure Winn had been noticing because whenever she looked at him recently he would give her a big grin and make a silly face to make her chuckle. She must have seemed extra zombie-like today because he suggested they do a fashion show in the middle of the store, “Because the only way to tell customers about the clothes is if we experience them for ourselves, Kara!”

She looked at him incredulously, but after appreciating his excitement at the prospect of doing something fun at work, Kara gave in, “Fine, but I have one rule to add. We get to pick out each other’s outfits. Agree or disagree?”

“AGREE!” Winn practically yelled as he started to dramatically sort through the boxes of clothing. Kara really did luck out in the co-worker lottery, she thought to herself as she began sorting through the clothing trying to find the most ridiculous combination. 

In the end they decided to place the others’ outfits in the one dressing room they had available and take turns changing. Winn, of course, wanted to go first because he couldn’t stand to wait any longer to see what Kara had picked out for him. After an initial gasp and some muffled words of frustration, Kara could only attribute to him wiggling into the tights she had picked, he emerged standing in a power pose with his hands on his hips. 

“Don’t look straight at me, I might burn your eyes with my handsomeness!” Winn proudly exclaimed. He was wearing a pink headband that was so tight on his head that his hair was sticking up like a porcupine, a woman’s floral cut-off sweatshirt (that Kara chose to be “kind” and give him a large size) paired with some black men’s tights and too short neon blue running shorts. To top off the look, Kara had also given him a fanny pack…which Winn had decided to synch up to his bellybutton.

Kara tried to stifle her laughter, but wasn’t doing a very good job. “That’s probably for the best, because I don’t know if I want to look straight at you…I mean you look too fantastic!” She threw him a thumbs up, trying to sell her enthusiasm. 

“I know.” Winn stated matter of factly as he pretended to toss his hair back and walk with an overzealous strut down the middle of the store and do a spin only to return next to Kara as she gave some enthusiastic whistles. “Alright Danvers, it’s your turn to rock some clothes,” as he gestured for her to go into the dressing room. 

She walked in the small room with a giant mirror facing her and clothing hanging on the wall to her right. “Oh dear God, Winn, Why?” Kara surveyed the selection displayed on the wall beside her. It’s basically just an explosion of blinding neon on every item. Winn was doing this for her though, so the least she could do was participate without too much complaining. 

It had been a few minutes as Kara was putting the final touches on the outfit Winn picked out for her and she could hear him tapping his shoe outside the changing room. “Get a move on Danvers, we don’t have all day.”

Kara pushed the door to the changing room open and it dramatically creaked to a halt. She stood there with a “I can’t believe you made me put these on” facial expression (if that existed, if not, it did now). 

Winn looked up from his phone that he was scrolling through and immediately shielded his eyes. He then ran over to the sunglasses rack, threw on a pair to jog back over with an approving smile, “Much better.”

“Ha Ha, very funny,” Kara looked down at herself. Winn had picked out highlighter yellow shorts, an orange camo sports bra with an unzipped bright pink track jacket and a hat with a rainbow brim, which Kara chose to wear backwards. There had also been a tie dye shirt, but Winn had underestimated Kara’s muscular stature and picked out about 3 sizes too small aka it was still hanging up. She felt ridiculous, but she must admit that it was taking her mind away from her earlier feelings of disappointment.

It made her thankful for the idiot standing before her exposing his bare midriff all in the name of making her feel better. So Kara leaped out of the dressing room and proceeded to do her best super model impersonation, much as Winn had just attempted as he pretended to take pictures of her. Kara thought to herself, this would probably be a really bad time for someone to walk in…so naturally the door opened. 

It was a shock for everyone involved. Winn froze in the middle of taking a fake picture while crouched on ground to “get a better angle, duh Kara”, Kara flat out jumped the opposite direction of the noise of the door and the customer stood there with their mouth hanging ajar while holding a large pink box before her.

“Uh, hiii? Should I come back later?” Lena looked a mix of confused with a dash of fear observing the current situation. 

Kara was still processing what was happening. Lena was here. Lena was here and looking at her. Lena was here and looking at her with this ridiculous outfit. She didn’t know whether to jump for joy or run into the backroom and never return. “We, uhh, well it was kinda slow so we decided to, umm…”

“PRODUCT TESTING!” Winn blurted as he rose from his crouched position. “I mean, well, what I meant to say was we were being very diligent employees and making sure that our inventory was of the upmost quality, right Kara?”

He turned to Kara with an expectant look for her to back him up. She obliged. 

“Yep, that is what we are doing. Testing the products. We are product testers.” Kara then pretended to inspect the jacket she was wearing by running her hand up and down the material on her arm. “I’d give this a 4 star rating for softness.”

“I’ll add it to the spreadsheet.” Winn noted as he ran off to the dressing room and slammed the door. Kara made a mental note to make fun of his exit later, but right now she had way more important things to attend to. 

Kara looked to Lena. She was wearing something very similar to when they first met, a form fitting pencil skirt with a nice blouse tucked in and a blazer with the sleeves rolled up showing off a very expensive looking watch. Her hair was down in soft curls, which seems to contrast her formal business attire. And of course, deathly tall heels. Kara then noticed that as she was shamelessly admiring Lena’s wardrobe, Lena was doing the exact same thing to her…but her stare seemed to have halted right around Kara’s bare stomach displaying her taught muscles.

Kara quickly closed her jacket out of sheer embarrassment regarding the situation. Lena seemed to snap out of her trance just then and took on a look of embarrassment herself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.”

“I’m pretty sure it would be weird if you didn’t stare at me right now,” Kara gave a self-deprecating laugh. “But I’m glad you’re here, I was starting to think I would never see you again.” 

Lena looked a bit guilty at that, “Fair assumption. Work has been crazy and to be honest I didn’t know if I could show my face her again.” Lena pointed to Kara’s outfit, “But this is helping.”

Kara gave a genuine laugh and performed an overexaggerated bow, “Well I’m glad to be of service.”

There was a beat of silence where both women seemed to be struggling for the next piece of the conversation. Kara scuffed one of her shoes against the ground seeming to be playing with an invisible rock and Lena picked at the edge of the box she was holding. Kara finally spoke up, “Does that contain my raincheck donut?” She pointed to the item that the other woman was fidgeting with.

Lena looked down at the box she was holding as if she completely forgot it existed. “Right, well I’m a woman of my word so…here you go.” Lena walked over to the cash register desk and delicately slid the box on top. 

Kara excitedly scurried over and popped the lid open only to act as if it shown of bright gold. “Oh my God Lena, did you get me a dozen chocolate frosted and rainbow sprinkle donuts?! Because if you did,” she decided she couldn’t wait and immediately picked one up to take a giant bite, “Y-ou er tha bst ev-r.” 

Lena chuckled at Kara trying to talk with a mouthful of pastry and all of the awkwardness/embarrassment had left the room only leaving a warmth surrounding the two women. “You might be the first person to say that to me.”

Kara stopped chewing with a shocked look on her face and swallowed the first bite of her donut. “That’s going to change if I have anything to say about it,” she said earnestly. She couldn’t understand how the amazing woman before her couldn’t be subject to high praise on a daily basis. I mean, based on her wardrobe she obviously worked somewhere important. How could she not be doing amazing things worthy of kind words?

Lena was still a bit bashful from Kara’s previous statement and began playing with her watch strap. “So the donuts were a peace offering, but I was actually wondering if I could talk to you about something?”

Kara looked up from eyeing her second donut into Lena’s hopeful eyes. “Oh course, what’s up? Do you want to come sit down?” Kara gestured to the beat up coach in the corner of the store.

Lena didn’t seem pleased, “What if I took you to get coffee to go with those donuts? Do you have a break coming up?”

Kara checked her digital watch on her wrist and it just so happened she was actually due for a break an hour ago, but had lost track of time thanks to Winn’s antics. “Sure, let me just go tell Winn.”

The two women then heard a man’s voice scream from the back changing room. “I got it covered Kara, you can go ahead! And I’m definitely not hiding from embarrassment back here. FYI.”

Kara smiled, “Thanks Winn! Noted.” She motioned for Lena to follow her to the exit, before Lena stopped her with a concerned look and pointed at her.

“Do you maybe want to change from your…product testing?”

Kara looked down at herself and immediately looked back at Lena with a blush. “Yes, the product testing. I’ll be right back.” As she held up a finger and strolled over to the changing room to demand Winn give her a turn to change. 

Kara and Lena had found a table at the diner down the street. It had grown to become one of Kara’s favorite places to go on her breaks for some food and a warm atmosphere. It reminded her a lot of the place she would frequent in college when she had to cram for exams and wanted somewhere she could pop her earbuds in and exist in her study bubble with an endless supply of French fries. A waitress immediately appeared at their table, “Hi Kara! Would you like the usual?”

Kara looked at Lena, who chuckled, and then looked back to the waitress. “Hi Nia, no thanks. I think I’ll just take a latte please?”

“No food? That’s a first. And what can I get your friend?” The waitress turned to Lena with a chipper expectant look. 

“I’ll have the same, thanks.” Lena gave the waitress a polite smile as she closed her menu in front of her.

“2 lattes coming up!” The waitress practically skipped away.

Lena turned to Kara, “So you come here often then?”

Kara acted shocked and gave a sly smile, “Why Lena, are you hitting on me in my favorite diner?” Teasing Lena was quickly becoming one of Kara’s favorite past times, unfortunately, Lena never seemed to catch on to her humor.

“Oh, no, I wasn’t trying to, it was just the waitress said-.”

The blond stopped the woman from continuing her rambling, “It’s fine Lena, I’m just kidding,” and flashed a bright smile. At this point their lattes showed up at their table with cheery Nia, as well as a slice of chocolate pecan pie. 

“So when I told the guys in the back you were here and didn’t order any food they thought something was wrong and wanted me to send this over to you,” Nia proudly slid the pie in front of Kara with a wink before she made her way back to the kitchen. 

Kara looked elated, “Donuts and pie?! Today is a good day.” She shifted the plate to the middle of the table and handed Lena a fork. “You absolutely need to try this, it’s the closest to my mom’s recipe I’ve ever tasted.”

Lena looked almost in disbelief before her, “Do you charm everyone you meet?”

Kara looked up from admiring her slice of heaven with confusion etched on her face, “What do you mean?”

Lena stared back with disbelief and after a short pause she seemed to come back to the conversation, “Right. Well the reason I asked you here is that I have a proposition for you.”

Kara put her fork down and swallowed the pie she was chewing in anticipation of this proposition. She couldn’t imagine what Lena would need from her, a college graduate working in retail and living in her sister’s office didn’t exactly scream someone you’d want a proposition from. 

When Kara nodded her head signaling Lena to continue, she cleared her throat and straightened out her posture as if to prepare for a rebuttal, “I’ve been thinking about what you had mentioned last Saturday. How you had a horrible time in Yoga class and then had a friend that taught you? I was hoping you would consider being my private running coach. I think we both saw how I did last Saturday and you don’t really know me yet, but I’m not used to…not being good at things. Let alone doing it in public with a group of people.”

Kara stared blankly at Lena. A private running coach? It wasn’t too long ago she was the one being told what to do on the track, so how was she supposed to even act like she was qualified to do this? She tried to read Lena’s facial expression, but she was displaying a practiced stoic gaze towards Kara while sipping her latte. Damn her businesswoman skills. 

Then there was the fact that she had done this before in college, but she was the Lena in this situation and it really didn’t end well for either of them. Kara honestly can’t believe she had brought that story up with someone she had basically just met. It was just Lena was so frustrated on that run and all Kara wanted was to put her at ease. It’s kind of alarming how much Kara just wants the woman sitting across from her to…just be happy. 

Thinking back to when Lucy had first started Yoga lessons and their early meetings in the quad on the lawn. She had insisted that the best time to do “mindful body movement” was first thing in the morning, which Kara had grumbled about. She would look over during her to attempt to copy Lucy’s motions and just end up staring at the fresh sunlight reflecting off of her shiny auburn hair and the smile she would flash when playfully insisting Kara focus. She loved those mornings…until she didn’t. 

She continued to weigh her options, while she was certain her infamous crinkle was showing as she was furrowing her eyebrows. Lena shifted in her seat and her impartial demeanor wavered, “I can obviously pay you for your services.”

Kara’s eyebrows shot up at this. She was expecting to get a new friend after today, not a client. But working a retail job wasn’t exactly bringing in the big bucks and she felt bad enough about crashing at Alex’s and not being able to pay half of the rent (because apparently an FBI salary means you live in a very expensive apartment). Plus, they would still be hanging out sort of and Kara wouldn’t make the same mistake she did with Lucy. This is what she told herself at least. 

Kara had been toying with her fork in thought and resolutely placed it back on her napkin, “I’ll do it. But just so you know, I’m not really the coach that’s going to like yell at you and blow a whistle. I hope that’s not what you’re expecting from this.”

“Not at all!” Lena’s whole demeanor changed. She slouched down her chair (but really just matched Kara’s own posture now) and audibly let out a sigh. “Lovely, it’s settled then.” Lena clapped her hands together excitedly. “Oh, and Just so you know mornings are best for me, I find it’s the ideal time for me to do activity.”

Kara felt her smile falter the smallest amount. She could do this, right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena go for their first 1:1 run together

“So let me get this straight, this woman is paying you to run next to her?” Alex was lounging on the couch with a half-eaten slice of pizza dangling from her hand and holding a beer in the other. It was their newly established “sister’s night”, which was basically just an excuse to eat way too much food, drink way too much beer (on Alex’s end) and watch movies in their living room. 

Kara was seated across from her in an overstuffed chair that had quickly become her favorite place to unwind after work. “No! Well, yes, but there’s more to it than that.” Kara threw a pillow towards her sister that hit her square in the stomach and had Alex acting in mock hurt. “I need to plan workouts according to her abilities and make sure she warms up and cools down and….and….” Kara was struggling to come up with the ending to her list of responsibilities when Alex did it for her, “And run next to her?”

“You’re lucky I don’t have any more pillows over here.” Kara crossed her arms in frustration and Alex held her full hands up in the air to relent. 

“Just be careful, okay sis? I mean, how well do you even know this Leah?

Kara was getting exasperated. “It’s Lena! And I know her well enough, okay? I meet with her tomorrow morning for our first session. Do you want to put a bug on me and listen in on our scandalous workout, FBI lady?” Kara was joking, but was becoming increasingly alarmed every second Alex seemed to be contemplating this as a real option.

“No, Alex.”

“But, maybe if we just-“

“NO!”

Alex seemed to accept her defeat, “Fine,” and shoved the remainder of her pizza in her mouth. 

The two women sat in silence for a stretch of time after that and returned their attention to the movie Alex had put on. It was her turn to choose and she had decided on a thriller/mystery that was too scary for Kara’s liking. When she had asked Alex how she could watch these when she dealt with stuff like this at work, her sister responded with, “Since I’m so good at my job I figure out these plots in three seconds. Then it’s just calming when I keep getting everything right.” Kara definitely did not feel calm, and she didn’t know if it was because of the movie or impending morning run getting closer and closer. 

“He’s gonna get shot soon.” Alex lazily pointed to the man on the screen looking over his shoulder. And not seconds later there’s a loud POP from the tv that makes Kara jump in her seat. She looks over and sees Alex making a finger gun at the screen, “Told ya.”  
Kara reaches for the box of pot stickers on the coffee table and settles it on her lap to dive in, “So how are things with Maggie?” 

The biggest smile grows on Alex’s face at the mention of her name. They had hung out a couple more times after their yoga/brunch weekend, but Alex hadn’t divulged any details to her sister if things had become…more than friendly. “They’re good, still just friends, but I’m okay with that for now. She’s a really cool person to be around and she understands what we go through at work. I feel lucky to at least have that, you know?”

Kara had accepted long ago that Alex refused to talk about what she dealt with on a daily basis with the FBI. She had said that Kara’s soul was too pure to talk about the criminals she helped catch. She wasn’t exactly wrong, seeing as when Kara had her turn for sister night movie selection she almost always chose something animated and meant for ages 6-12. That didn’t change the fact that Kara worried that if she didn’t talk to someone, it would slowly start to eat away at her.

“Glad to hear it, Alex.” Kara flashed her a genuine smile. 

“Thanks Sis.” Alex returned her attention to the screen, “The killer is gonna pop out from behind the door.” Not a second later Kara saw the killer jump out to make her jolt again in her seat.

“Shit Alex, I am definitely picking the next movie!”  
\----------

Kara was doing some light stretching near a bench in a local park Lena had instructed her to meet. It was serene this early in the morning with the faint sound of ducks quacking in the park’s pond and orange sunlight streaming thought the trees. Almost no one was out except for some older women speed walking on the trails in their matching sweat suits. Kara hoped to be so cool at that age, she thought. 

“You found it okay then?” Kara looked over her shoulder and saw Lena strolling up to her in another one of the outfits she had bought the first day they met. A pair of dark red shorts and form fitting black long sleeve shirt. Her dark hair was up in a tight pony tail swaying back and forth with each step Lena took towards her and her wayfarer sunglasses were shielding her eyes. 

Kara went to remove her leg that had been resting on the arm of the bench during her hamstring stretch when it got caught on some of the metal work resulting in a “Damn it, not again!” being expelled from Kara’s mouth as she tripped and landed on her backside. 

Kara let out a sigh in frustration and slowly just laid down on the ground in embarrassment, groaning in the process. 

She heard footsteps rapidly approaching her and then saw Lena prop her sunglasses on her head to reveal those emerald eyes staring down at her in concern. “Jesus Kara, I really need to stop finding you like this! Are you alright?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I just thought this would be a perfect place for a quick nap.” Kara attempted to joke through her pain. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Lena smiled in relief and held out her hand, “Up you go, then.” 

Kara accepted her offer of assistance and was pulled to her feet, “Thank you, sorry about that. You’re probably wondering if you’ve picked the right person to teach you how to run when I can’t even walk properly.” 

Lena continued to smile and held onto her hand a little longer after Kara had righted herself. “I’m sure I’ve picked right.” 

Kara cocked her head to the side and Lena seemed to realize what she had just said and immediately dropped her hand to her side and to look down at the concrete, “Anyway, shall we get started, Coach Danvers?”

Kara laughed at that comment, “Geez, please don’t call me that. Kara is fine.”

They started with Kara instructing Lena with the stretching she had been doing prior to her arrival, which Lena was surprisingly well versed in.

“My parents made me do ballet when I was a child, so I guess my body has a good memory.”

“They MADE you do ballet? You mean little Lena didn’t want to be a ballerina?” Kara questioned with honest curiosity. 

Lena gave a bright laugh, “Dear God no, little Lena was definitely not a pink tutu kind of girl. I would have much rather been coding in front of a computer or be nose deep in a good book.”

Kara grinned at that and pictured a 6 year old Lena curled up in her bed under the covers with a flashlight illuminating a hefty book she could barely pick up. 

Kara made the offhand comment, “I bet you were adorable then.” She didn’t notice how Lena looked over with a bashful looking grin.

They finished up their stretching and Kara instructed Lena on her plan for the morning of combining running and walking to get Lena’s cardio up before attempting a full run again. Although, the workout turned into Kara talking Lena’s ear off while Lena attempted to keep breathing. They would run for a stretch and then walk when Kara’s watch beeped to signify a break. She would chat about the different food places they passed and whether or not her sister had deemed them worthy of their money or not. She talked about stories from college involving drunken nights at parties. Just filling the air between them with a tangible presence to keep Lena connected to her and not in her own head, which seemed to be constantly filled with doubt. If that meant telling embarrassing stories about dancing on a table at a party, then so be it. 

“And then, I apparently kicked a guy in the face who had yelled for me to take my top off and tried to get on the table with me. I mean, I was dancing to the Spice Girls after winning my race at a track meet that day. Let me celebrate without your male gaze,” Kara scoffed.

“Sounds like the prick deserved it,” Lena said in a long exhale.

“Oh he for sure did, but I actually ended up getting into a fight with my boyfriend that night because he thought I had over reacted.” Kara looked pensive, “I actually totally forgot about that part of the story until right now.”

Lena seemed to deflate at that comment, “Boyfriend, huh?”

“Mike. We met on the track team and dated on and off throughout college until we finally broke up the end of junior year.”

It had been horrible. He was her first real relationship, and even though he didn’t always treat her the way she felt she deserved she still felt that sense of emptiness and loss when she ended things with him. He had been a constant for her, since her freshman year, almost like a safety blanket that had now been removed and left her out in the cold frigid air. Nonetheless, it had also left her with a guilty sense of freedom to act on her feelings she had been trying to ignore. Kara could feel the pained expression on her face recalling the night after her break up when she went to Lucy’s dorm room…

Lena seemed to sense a tension that had arisen and was now walking next to Kara, able to form full sentences without large pauses to catch her breath. “So how many more times do we have to run? Asking for a friend.”

Kara gave a snort at the quip and attempt to change the subject. Lena was always so serious all of the time, no doubt a residual side effect of her business type job, Kara guessed. It was nice getting glimpses of Lena as a person rather than a projection of who she thought she should be with her practiced poise. 

Kara looked at her watch, “Well you can tell your friend we only have one more interval to go. Are you ready?” She could feel her somber mood still lingering from bringing up the past, but she was almost done and could totally keep it together. Absolutely, 100%, together.

Lena nodded to signify she was ready and both women started to increase their pace to a run nearing the bench they had begun their excursion. They ran in silence for the first time that day and Kara began picking up her pace in an effort to get lost in her strides and not her memories. Before she knew it she was at the bench and slowed to a walk expecting to find Lena next to her. But instead found her about 50 meters behind her. “Shit,” she thought. “I did not keep it together.”

Kara took a seat on the bench resting her elbows on her thighs and dropping her head with a heavy breath. She messed up. The sound of footfalls were gradually moving closer and closer when they finally ceased next to her. Kara felt the wooden planks on the bench shift from Lena’s weight. 

She could sense the woman next to her fidgeting.

“I’m really sorry if I overstepped Kara. I didn’t mean to pry about your personal life. I promise to keep our relationship professional from now on.” Lena’s voice cracked at the end of her statement, but she cleared her throat in an attempt to mask it. 

Kara lifted her head up letting out a sigh, “Absolutely not.” She gave Lena an earnest look, “Lena, the reason I got upset is because I never really talk about THAT with anyone. It was just a really complicated time in my life that I try not to think about.” One side of her mouth starts to quirk up in a barely there smile, “But for some reason I feel like I can tell you things without judgement, you know? Her smile falters to a questioning look and a feeling of vulnerability. “So please don’t be sorry and please, for the love of God, do not start calling me Coach Danvers.”

Lena’s gaze softens and Kara swears she sees her eyes glaze with moisture. “Fine.” Lena seems to have an internal debate, and ultimately makes the decision to speak, “And for the record, I feel like I can tell you things too.”

The two women grin at that and relax into the planks of the bench watching the ducks swim in the pond and enjoying each other’s company. 

“We really should be stretching right now or else you will feel like shit later,” Kara breaks the silence between them. 

Lena makes a slow exhale, “Lead the way, Co-…Kara.”  
\----------

The running store was hectic later that day. James had decided to have a sale on clothes to get more foot traffic and it seemed to be doing the trick because Winn and Kara barely had time to do their typical chit chat.

It was an hour until closing now and it seemed that the busyness was finally winding down. The two employees sank into the store couch, both groaning in exhaustion. Then they did what every twenty-something does when they finally have free time and took out their phones to check their messages. 

“The cell towers must be down, I got nothin,” Winn stated matter of factly just as Kara’s phone buzzed with an incoming message. 

“Yes, the towers, I heard they were having trouble today.” She looked to him in agreement. 

Winn gave her the stink eye, “Don’t patronize me Danvers.” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, buddy.” Kara opened up the lingering notification on her phone to find a text from Lena.

Lena: It was lovely running with you this morning and I look forward to our next meeting. 

Kara knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. It read like the appointment reminder messages she gets from her dentist or a text message from her Aunt who still writes “Sincerely Aunt Karen” at the end of her paragraph long texts. 

Whenever she thought she was making headway with loosening Lena up, it seemed like she would immediately regress back to her formality and treating their interactions like a business meeting. 

Winn looked over her shoulder at her message and Kara noticed the shadow, “Creep much, Winn?”

“My bad, are you texting donut girl? Winn looked suddenly hopeful. She was really pretty, do you think she would go for a guy like me?” He posed with a wide smile and both hands giving a thumbs up. 

Kara honestly had never viewed Winn in any romantic capacity. He just immediately gave her a brother vibe with their back and forth banter, so the idea of thinking of him and Lena together didn’t really sit right with her. At least that was the reason she told herself. “I’m not sure, we haven’t really talked about that kind of thing.”

“Do you think you could find out? Or, oh, maybe we could all go out for a drink together?!” Winn was getting very excited about the potential of this hypothetical social outing. 

“Calm down dude, take a breath.” Winn dramatically took a deep breath and then looked to Kara expecting an answer. “Fine, I’ll see what I can do. But that’s the best I got, okay?”

“You’re the best EVER, Danvers. I owe you big, like a million donuts big!”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Winn.” Kara shook her head with a smile on her face concerning her friend’s antics. It might be fun, hanging out with her bro and new friend…while her bro was crushing on her new friend. Nothing could be weird about that. Everything was going to be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara, Lena and Winn go out for drinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must of rewritten this chapter a million times and now realize what it means when people say "I hate what I wrote, but here it is!" Also I discovered the wonders of using Rich Text when uploading so my line spacing is going to be different from here on out (unless anyone wants to tell me how to fix double spacing after paragraphs when copy/pasting from Word?)
> 
> Some angst with resolution by the end. Thanks for reading!

Kara was currently on break from work at her favorite diner, while her favorite waitress just placed her favorite meal in front of her. A large stack of pancakes, crispy bacon and scrambled eggs. Kara didn’t have many life philosophies, but one that she lived by was definitely that breakfast food was anytime food.

“Thanks Nia! I’ve been starving all day and this looks amazing!” Kara grabbed her silverware eyeing her object of affection.

“Anytime Kara, I even had the guys throw on some extra pancakes for ya.” Nia smiled affectionately. “Let me know if you need more syrup, since you basically drown your food in it.”

Kara had just shoved some eggs in her mouth, so she gave a thumbs up as Nia made her way over to her other customers.

It had been 2 weeks since her first one on one run with Lena and the women had met up 3 more times since then. Lena was progressing nicely with her ability to run for longer versus walking and Kara felt like she was also becoming more comfortable around her. She had even been cracking some jokes at the end of their last run. Granted they made Kara cringe due to their corniness, but she was trying nonetheless.

Winn had been relentless with his pestering for Kara to ask Lena to do a “group hang”. It was like a puppy dog begging for food, but she had to give Winn credit for his persistence. Kara had finally broke and said she would text her today to try to schedule something, but she made no promises seeing as Lena appeared to be a very busy woman.

Kara finished off the last of her plate of food (that she had basically inhaled) and took out her phone to open the conversation she had saved with Lena. It was literally just them texting back and forth when to meet and where, nothing too friendly apart from their initial messages to each other. She contemplated what to say, so as to not scare her off.

_Kara: Hey running buddy! I was wondering if you wanted to grab a drink sometime this week with me and Winn (from the store). No pressure!_

“There,” She thought. A friendly invite and giving her an out if she wants it. She was still looking at her phone when she noticed the bouncing ellipses indicating Lena was typing, but not a second later they disappeared. Kara stared with rapt attention as the dots reappeared and disappeared about 4 more times.

Nia approached her table, unbeknownst to Kara, and set down her check. “Pay when you’re ready, hope to see you soon!.” Kara startled at her words and looked up from her phone.

“Oh, yeah, for sure, see you soon.” She was still preoccupied with her screen and waiting for these dang dots to show her something. Finally, they disappeared and then didn’t return. Kara let out a long exhale, welp, she did it, she scared her off. 

She put her phone away, paid the bill (while leaving a generous tip because she felt bad about ignoring Nia) and started to make her way back to the store.

* * *

The sun was just setting as Kara was ringing up a customer for a pair of shoes and socks. There was an orange glow emanating through the front window that cast long shadows of the trees outside creeping onto the store floor. The customer left with a smile and “Thank you!” as Kara got lost in staring at the black silhouettes swaying on the ground. She suddenly saw the outline of a person join the trees, not thinking anything of it, Kara continued to zone out and mindlessly stare. But then that shadow person abruptly turned the way they had come and left the scene, only to return a second later and pause. This got Kara’s attention and she looked up to see what was happening outside her work only to see Lena appearing to be talking to herself and looking a combination of determined and unsure at the same time (which Kara didn’t think was possible).

Kara furrowed her brow, but didn’t make a move from behind the cash register. Lena, on the other hand, continued to inaudibly ramble on to herself while wildly gesticulating with her hands. It was very cute and Kara’s confusion quickly turned to adoration for the frantic woman behind the glass. It was at that moment that Lena locked eyes with her. Kara couldn’t read lips, but she could very clearly see the word “Fuck” being exclaimed from Lena’s mouth as her eyes grew wide.

Kara’s eyebrows lifted as she smiled and waved. She then watched Lena take a breath, run a hand down her blouse and slacks to smooth nonexistent wrinkles and stride forward to open the door of the store.

“Hey Lena, haven’t see you here in a while. Did you need something?” Kara questioned as she rested her hands in the pockets of her track hoodie. After she hadn’t received a response in her messages all day, Kara really was not expecting to see her in person, but was glad nonetheless.

Lena bit her bottom lip as she mirrored Kara and also slid her hands in her pockets. “No, no, nothing like that.” She then seemed to sigh in defeat. “You know, I send hundreds of emails a week, to very powerful people mind you. I do business deals via teleconference with horribly pompous men and never break a sweat.”

Lena cleared her throat as if to prepare for her next statement.

“But for some reason it appears that I’m horribly inept at texting…a friend.” Lena’s eyes softened as she motioned towards Kara with one of her hands, “Or at least that’s what my assistant told me after I asked for her help. So I decided to come here in person because I thought it would be less awkward for me, but it seems I might not be off to a great start,” she said as she pointed behind her and then covered half of her face with her hand.

Okay, this was way more adorable, Kara thought. “Believe it or not, you are not the first person I’ve witnessed have a conversation with themselves outside this store.”

“Really?” Lena questioned.

“Oh yeah, well, the other person seemed to be on drugs and was arrested for indecent exposure later that day…probably not the best comparison.” Kara winced, but had a smile on her lips that hopefully conveyed she was teasing.

This made Lena snort in laughter. “I’d say not.”

“Can I ask what you were talking to yourself about?” Kara asked.

Lena scrunched up her nose in embarrassment. “Well when I’m nervous before a business meeting I’ll rehearse what I’m going to say beforehand to ease some anxiety…soooo yeahhh.”

Adorable overload.

“Well, let’s hear it then.” Kara looked intrigued and rested her elbows on the counter in front of her so she could perch her chin atop her hands and looked expectantly towards Lena.

Lena looked alarmed. “You want to hear what I was saying, out there?”

Kara didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, but she was really curious what Lena trying respond to a text message in person looked like.

Lena smiled bashfully, but regained composure Kara thought might be similar to Boardroom Lena, “Alright then. I was going to come in here and hopefully find you not on the ground having tripped over something.”

Kara started to giggle. “Already very accurate, proceed.”

Lena walked up to the counter Kara was leaning on. “And then when I found you upright I would come up to you and ask how your day is going.”

Kara looked up at Lena from her lower vantage point to see her sharp jawline and soft eyes.

“And then I would say I was in the area and wanted to stop in to say hi, when in all honesty I had to have my driver take me across town to get here.”

Kara was the one starting to look bashful now.

“And then I would say I got your text and was wondering if you wanted to get drinks tonight?”

Kara stood up from leaning on the counter and looked Lena straight in the eye with as much earnestness she could muster. “Yes Lena, I would love that! I just need to check with Winn, he left a couple hours ago, but based on his stories of playing video games most nights I’m guessing he’ll be available.”

Lena’s eyes lit up with zeal, “Splendid! We can meet there at say, 8? I can text you the address of the bar I was thinking of.”

Kara grinned from ear to ear. “Sounds good! Just promise not to turn up at my apartment with a map instead of texting me though, okay?”

Lena let out a sigh of exasperation, but her lips were curling up in a smile “I think I can manage that.”

* * *

Kara had just enough time after closing up work to drive back to the apartment, shower, throw on some clothes and drive to the bar Lena had texted her. Winn had responded to her text after Lena left in about 1.3 seconds with a very excited “YES” regarding if he was available for drinks. It was then followed by about 20 different emojis in an attempt to describe his sheer happiness.

There wasn’t a ton of parking available around the building, so Kara assumed it must be a popular place. After finally finding a spot on the street a couple blocks away she shoved her hands in her pockets to keep warm and made her way over following the glow of the street lights.

She was never one to get too dressed up for nights out, so she had decided on some simple black skinny jeans, a white V neck t-shirt tucked in the front and a long gold necklace with some bright red Vans. Her hair was down in loose waves and she had thrown on some mascara to give the illusion she looked nicer than normal. 

When she pulled open the door to the bar her hair was blown back over her shoulders with a gust of warmth mixed with the scent of beer and food. The lighting was dim, but she could see there was indeed a decent crowd circulating throughout, but not enough to feel claustrophobic or have to wait 2 hours for a drink. Kara navigated her way between patrons seeking out long dark hair, until she heard her name called out.

“Kara, over here!” She turned and saw Lena waving from a booth in the back, which had a sign that read “Reserved” in bold black letters propped up on the table. There was already a drink in her hand, and a nervous smile plastered across her face.

Kara waved back as she weaved between people to reach the booth. “Hey there! Was this booth reserved for us?”

Lena looked unsure, “Oh, well my assistant Jess said this place had really good reviews when I asked her to research bars in the area, and I figured we should make reservations to ensure service. Please have a seat.” She motioned to the other side of the booth.

There was a lot to unpack in that one statement. But the overall concern was that apparently it only took Lena a couple of hours to reset back to her factory setting of business formal.

Kara gave a reassuring smile and chose to scoot next to Lena instead, sliding on the red vinyl until their legs were almost touching. Lena did a horrible job at hiding her surprise of Kara’s seating choice and began adjusting her drink and wallet on the table in front of herself.

“You know you don’t have to do that with me, right? I’m not a business associate looking to make a deal over a drink.” She laughed and placed her hand on Lena’s to give a reassuring squeeze. This caused her to stiffen at first, but then seemed to relax in her seat while staring at Kara’s hand on top of hers.”

“Well I guess I’m technically an employee? But whatever, I won’t tell my boss if you don’t.” Kara winked at the woman next to her.

Lena nervously chuckled and moved her body farther back against the wall away from Kara, but kept her thumb tucked above so Kara didn’t pull away her hand. “Such a charmer, you are, Kara Danvers.”

Kara just shrugged like her constant need to make others feel comfortable and special was a common character trait.

It was very obvious Lena was feeling out of place, and Kara was recalling the first time they met when she had mentioned she didn’t get out much and she was starting to feel an itch of guilt that her reasoning for asking Lena to drinks was because Winn wanted to hit on her. Kara couldn’t just let her be blindsided by that when he showed up and he immediately started awkwardly feeding her pick up lines (or whatever Winn’s idea of flirting was? Kara had never witnessed it first hand).

She squeezed Lena’s hand again with a smile and removed it to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I’m really glad we’re doing this. Don’t tell anyone, but this is the first time since moving here that I’ve gone out with anyone that wasn’t my sister outside of work.”

Lena laughed and took a sip of amber liquid from her low ball glass. “As long as you don’t tell anyone I can’t even remember the last time I’ve gone out with anyone outside of work.”

Kara decided she had to come clean because she could not ruin this amazing woman’s night. She turned her body so that she was facing Lena and had tucked her leg underneath of her so she was sitting a little taller now. Kara truly got a view of her now and took in the image of perfection that was, Lena. Her hair was down, but to contrast Kara’s choice, it sleek and straight. Her make-up was done to perfection, including s smoky eye look that Kara had only attempted a couple of times herself with an end product that made her look like she had gotten punched in the face. She was wearing deep red tank top that looked to be made of soft silk with dark blue skinny jeans, and you guessed it, heels.

Just as Kara was getting pulled back to the moment at hand instead of admiring her friend she heard a familiar voice behind her. “Hello ladies!”

Kara smelled Winn before she saw him. Whoever invented body spray for men should really include a feature where it stops spraying after 2 seconds because it was as if he had taken a bath in it. He took claim of the seat across form the two women and smiled from Lena to Kara and back to Lena again. Winn stuck out his hand. “I’d like to formally introduce myself, I’m Winn, and I must say you are pretty legendary around the store, Donut Girl.”

Lena shook his hand, but turned to Kara to confirm, “Oh really, I didn’t realize all it took to become legendary was buying some pastries and delivering them to your favorite employee.”

Kara immediately felt blood rush to her cheeks at that comment and went to reach for a nonexistent drink in front of her in an attempt to calm herself, but just ended up playing with a coaster. “So it seems.”

Lena turned back to Winn and released his observably clammy hand. “And just for the record I prefer to be called Donut Woman.”

Winn looked taken aback and was clearly not prepared for the retort. “Right, you’re a woman-obviously! I mean look at you, I mean, I’m not objectifying you or anything, but you know, you’re…”

Kara felt the need to assist her friend drowning in his own stuttering. “How about I get us some drinks?!” She turned to Lena who was mid-sip of her own looking puzzled. “I mean, we have to do shots to commemorate our first non-running hang out. It’s only right.”

Winn looked excited at the prospect and Kara asked him if he would be able to help her at the bar since she didn’t know how she felt about leaving him and Lena together unsupervised. “Oh, well, I was actually hoping I could stay here with Lena?”

It was now Lena’s turn to look to Winn, then to Kara, then back to Winn.

Kara had no idea how to deviate from Winn’s request, so she gave them both a tight lipped smile and nodded her head. “Sure!” she said about 2 octaves too high. “I’ll just be back in a sec.” She mostly directed her comment towards Lena as the woman’s eyes kept darting between Kara and Winn as if trying to figure something out.

It didn’t take long to get service at the bar since a space opened up just as she was approaching. It was as if the universe was like, “You probably shouldn’t leave them alone for too long.” She locked eyes with the bartender silently communicating for him to approach as she needed something to calm her now active nerves. Why did she agree to this? Yes, Winn was her friend and she wanted him to be happy, but also Lena deserves to go on a social outing without an ulterior motive tainting it. Kara gave her order to the bartender and he went to work tangling liquids togethers in cold steel.

Kara risked a glance towards the booth she had left and saw Winn gesticulating wildly and excitedly talking about something as Lena nodded and took perpetual sips of her drink.

“Would you like to start a tab?” The bartender asked to her side and she turned back to him to find 3 shots ready for her.

Might as well. “Sure, thanks.” As she handed him her card and then stared at the shots trying to figure out how to carry them back to their booth without spilling. After some finagling and some tips from the woman next to her she was able to grasp all three using both hands squeezing them in the middle. It took a lot of concentration to do this and walk at the same time, probably more than normal with Kara’s track record of coordination.

She had finally made it back to Lena and Winn and was completely absorbed with setting the shots down on the table without losing any liquid. She then realized that no one was talking. Kara looked up to see Winn staring at Kara with a look that read “HELP” and Lena staring intently at her now empty glass while dangling it from her fingertips.

“I, um, got us all lemon drops…did I miss something?” Kara asked unsurely.

Lena looked up to Kara revealing a somber expression and glossy eyes. “I need to use the restroom.”

Lena slid out of the booth brushing against Kara, but quickly continuing past her.

Kara froze, confused with the situation she had just walked into. Winn just shrugged his shoulders looking like a lost puppy and threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know, I just started talking and couldn’t stop talking and may have mentioned that this”, Winn motioned around him, “Was my idea so I could get to know her better!”

Crap.

Kara frantically searched for the direction of the restrooms. She could barely see the top of Lena’s head bobbing through the crowd of people, that had now grown since she had initially arrived. She continued to the back corner of the bar where she found a long hallway barely lit with 2 sconces on the walls. The doors to the restrooms were at the end of the hall, but she saw Lena standing with her back against the wall and her eyes closed as her head slowly fell back to give a slight “thump”. Kara tentatively approached her, not wanting to interrupt whatever she was trying to process.

“Did Winn try to do magic again? I told him he needs to practice more before involving fire,“ Kara joked in hopes of easing the tension.

Lena squeezed her eyes shut tighter letting a tear roll down her cheek, but quickly opened them and wiped it away with the back of her hand. “Did you only ask me here to set me up with Winn?”

Kara hated seeing anyone cry (hot take, right?), but seeing Lena’s typical cool composure replaced with a watery stare and lips pressed tight in attempt to keep from trembling was absolutely heartbreaking.

She was taking too long to answer and kept opening and closing her mouth not knowing how to answer without making things worse. Lena took the silence as her statement.

“I just feel so stupid to think that I could make a friend that didn’t have something else they wanted from me. You’re not the first, you know, so don’t feel special.” Lena’s voice was hoarse as she tried to control her emotions.

She pushed herself off of the wall and moved to go past Kara, which seemed to spark something inside of her to finally take action so as to not ruin whatever relationship they currently had.

“I’m a dork!” Kara started with exasperation.

Lena turned to acknowledge Kara, “What?”

Kara took a few steps so she was close enough to Lena to smell her jasmine perfume.

“Lena, you’re this smart, accomplished and lovely woman! I still don’t really know exactly what you do, but it’s obviously very important for you to work as much as you do. And I mean, just look at you! Your outfit probably cost more than I make in a month, while I’m wearing,” Kara looked down at herself,“This! Your time is clearly extremely valuable and I honestly don’t understand why you would want to choose to spend it with me.”

Now, Kara has always been a crier. A dog needs to get adopted in a commercial? Instant tears. She finds out her favorite restaurant is out of potstickers for the night? Waterworks. So the combination of being in the presence of someone who was crying and giving that emotional statement of newly realized insecurity was a catalyst for Kara to also start crying.

Kara threw her arms up in exasperation. “Of course I want to hang out with you Lena! I just didn’t think you would want to hang out with me, so when Winn wanted me to set this up, of course I jumped at the chance!”

Kara wiped her tears with her shirt sleeve and leaned the side of her body against the wall to support herself as she was suddenly feeling very small. “I’m so sorry you felt like I wanted anything more from you than a friend. I really should have asked you to do something with just the two of us a while ago, but I guess I was scared you would say no. Can you understand that?”

Lena had stopped crying at some point during Kara’s outburst and was staring in disbelief. “It’s almost funny how much I understand that, Kara. I’m just so used to…” Lena was circling her hands in the air trying to find her words, “People that aren’t you, I guess.”

Kara choked out a laugh through her attempts to stop crying. “My sister does always say I’m one of a kind.”

Lena looked at her with soft red-rimmed eyes. "You are definitely one of a kind, Kara Danvers, and that's why I choose to spend my time with you."

The two women smiled and settled in a healing silence where they were both processing the moment when the door to the restroom swung open and a woman walked by.

Lena motioned to the end of the hall towards the now closing door. “How about we get cleaned up and head back before Winn thinks we left him, yeah?

“Sounds good, Lena.”

“And just for the record, Winn is very much not my type.” Lena smirked as she nudged Kara with her shoulder and moved to walk down the hall.

* * *

Kara and Lena arrived back to their table to find Winn and three empty shot glasses. He reached his hands towards Lena. “I’m so sorry, Lena. I’m not entirely sure what I’m sorry for-- I just know I did something that upset you and then you both left and there were these shots just sitting here….”

The two women sat in their prospective side of the booth, both with red puffy eyes, but smiles on their faces.

Lena spoke up, “You’re fine Winn. I’m fine, Kara’s fine. We’re all fine.”

Kara muttered under her breath, “I think I’d be more fine if there was a lemon drop in front of me…”

“ON IT!” Winn practically flew out of the booth towards the bar leaving Kara and Lena in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Never have I ever" sparks an idea for Lena and Kara next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena, Kara and Winn play Never Have I Ever, Kara and Lena have a cute moment, Kara opens up about Lucy with Alex (finally).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a long time, but I'm really proud of how it turned out :)

It had been one hour, three lemon drops and 2 pitchers of beer later. 

“Winn! I told you no fire!” Kara shouted in alarm when he was patting his shirt sleeve to put out the singe.

“But if I don’t use the fire, I can’t burn the playing card to reveal the one you chose!” Winn defended.

The three had settled in a comfortable banter after their initial bout of drama at the beginning of the night. When Winn had returned with their replacement lemon drop shots Kara had noticed that Lena made sure to say, “Thank you, _friend!_ ” with an enunciation on the last word so as to make sure he caught on to her lack of romantic interest. Kara gave credit to Winn because he took it in stride and just seemed happy that he had an audience for his magic act now…which still had some kinks to work out apparently.

“I think it’s impressive,” Lena stated as she finished what was left in her beer glass.

Kara huffed and crossed her arms, “Great, I’m sitting with two safety adverse pyros.”

“Damn right!” Winn held up his hand to Lena expecting her to give him a high five, but she just stared at his hand with skeptical eyes.

“Um, do you have a question?”

Winn appeared quizzical and looked at his hand and back to her. Kara also turned to Lena in surprise. Even though she has spent some time with the woman she could still not detect when she was being sarcastic or truly didn’t understand what Kara thought was general social knowledge.

Kara leaned close to Lena’s ear to whisper, “He wants a high five.”

Winn was still holding his hand up and Lena brought her hand up to touch her palm against his in an awkward manner and brought it back down to rest in her lap.

Lena looked embarrassed, “My family wasn’t really big on high fives growing up. We got handshakes.”

Winn’s expression shifted to shock. “Wait, was that your first high five?!”

Lena adjusted herself in her seat to appear taller, which Kara interpreted as her defense mechanism to prepare to defend herself from teasing. She nodded her head yes and folded her arms across her chest as a shield. Little did she know, she was sitting with two dorks.

“Oh my gosh, Kara, we need to remedy this right away.” Winn turned to Kara with a now serious face.

Kara and Winn had been getting creative recently with their ways to kill time at work when no customers were around to assist and James was away. Their most recent time waster included them coming up with the most awesome high five (as judged by Winn). It had taken an afternoon to figure out and two very numb hands later, but they had come up with a routine deemed “most awesome”.

Kara regarded Lena, who was now appearing more skeptical by the second. “I don’t know Winn, do you think she’s ready?”

Lena’s eyes widened. “Ready for what? What are you two on about?”

Winn nodded to Kara and whispered, “She’s ready.”

* * *

The next 15 minutes were spent teaching Lena a multi-step high five routine. She was incredibly focused on watching Kara and Winn demonstrate a couple of times until she stated, “Alright, I think I got it!”

Lena turned to Kara with eyes intensely staring at Kara’s hands and mumbling the steps to herself. It took a couple of tries, but on the 4th attempt they snapped their fingers, fist bumped, blew it up, knocked elbows and then ended with a slap of their hands in perfect unison. Lena gasped in delight and Kara moved her fingers so that they now intertwined with hers in mid air.

“You did it! I’m so proud of you Lena!” Kara beamed at the woman sitting next to her and Lena laughed with glee as she squeezed Kara’s hand tight.

Even though she could still feel the puffiness under eyes from crying, she didn’t regret the beginning of the night at all. Ever since they came back to the booth Lena’s guard would finally dissolve for more than 5 minutes at a time so Kara could actually get to know the person sitting next to her. Instead of getting a glance she now got a front seat view to the wonderful woman that was, Lena, and Kara couldn’t get enough.

Winn threw his hands in the air and said, “More drinks to celebrate!” as he shimmied out of the booth and ran to the bar in excitement.

Kara and Lena were now just looking at each other smiling like idiots with their hands still grasped tight. Kara cleared her throat and released hers to play with her now empty glass.

Lena pulled hers back to awkwardly lay in her lap. “Thank you, for this. I know it might seem silly but I haven’t really gone out like this with people without some other hidden agenda.”

Kara knitted her eyebrows. “Like what?”

“Oh, I’ve been to galas, charity events, business deals at fancy restaurants, but never just for fun. I must say I quite enjoy it…especially when it’s with you—and Winn.”

“Well you better get used to it because this will be the first of many then.” Kara rested her cheek on her hand support her elbow on the table while maintaining eye contact with Lena. “We’ll have to find out other things you haven’t experienced yet to further corrupt your classy lifestyle.”

Lena leaned back against the booth and folded her hands in her lap. “Ask away.”

Kara worried her bottom lip in thought until she asked, “Does the phrase Never Have I Ever mean anything to you?”

“No, should it?”

Kara sat up in excitement. “Perfect! The corruption is real, Lena.”

At that moment Winn plopped down across from them with another pitcher in his hand.

“Perfect timing Winn! We are playing Never Have I Ever!” Kara took the pitcher and started to fill up everyone’s glasses.

“Greeeeat, I can’t see how this could possibly go badly for me, like at all…because I’m such a cool guy who has done tons of stuff”

Kara disregarded his comment with a wave of her hand. “Oh, it’ll be fine,” She turned to Lena. “So the deal is we all take turns going around saying things we’ve never done and if you have done that thing you take a drink. Got it?”

Lena nodded her head. “So it’s like interrogation, but with booze?”

Winn held a finger up to interject. “With _moderately priced_ booze. Because my ladies deserve the best.”

Both women shot Winn and incredulous look. “Right, sorry, as soon as I said it I was like, what were you thinking? You aren’t _my_ ladies, because you are both strong, independent women… That’ll never come out of my mouth again…proceeeeed.”

“Right, so Winn is cut off after this,” Kara said as he gave her a mock salute in agreeance, which caused both women to snicker.

* * *

The lights had dimmed some time ago now bathing Lena and Winn in soft light that highlighted the crinkles around their eyes when they laughed. The group was almost done with their pitcher and so far they had found out that Winn had never been out of the country, Kara has eaten a whole pizza by herself and Lena has never gotten drunk at a party, danced on a table, eaten candy for dinner or sang karaoke.

Kara was definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol seeing as herself and Winn had drank the majority of the pitcher themselves. She felt warm and happy inside like there was a crackling fire bubbling up from her chest. 

“This isn’t fair, my beer is getting warm,” Lena pouted. “Just say something everyone has done, like breath or something.”

“Alright, alright.” Winn drummed his fingers on the table in thought and stopped to point one at Lena. “Never have I ever had a sleepover when I was a kid? I had sleep apnea and had to wear the weird scuba mask thing at night, which didn’t really translate well to sleeping on my friend’s living room floor.”

Kara took a big gulp of beer draining what was left idling in her glass, while Lena let out a loud sigh. Kara’s eyes got wide as she tentatively placed the now empty glass on the table. She leaned forward unsteadily and whispered next to Lena’s ear, “You’ve never been to a sleepover…like everrr?”

Lena shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “No, but I got over that a long time ago. Besides, I’m too old for that now so there’s no point in dwelling on the past.”

Kara was still in close proximity to Lena and looked appalled at her statement. “We are absolutely not too old for a slumber party Lena! You. Me. This weekend. We will make it so you won’t have warm beer during this game again.”

Kara then, much to Lena’s surprise, booped her nose with her finger. Booped.

“Uhhh, alright Drunk 1 and Drunk 2, I think maybe I should call my driver to get us all home okay.” Lena took out her phone as Kara and Winn protested to just have _one more pitcher._ But they were no match for Lena’s boardroom level sternness.

Therefore, tabs were settled, water was chugged (thanks to Lena), French fries were ordered to-go (thanks to Kara) and they made their way out to the sidewalk when they received the call that Lena’s driver had arrived. Winn was dropped off first and made a dramatic exit where he claimed to practice his disappearing act when he really just rolled out the door on the sidewalk.

The door shut and Winn waved at them from his apartment building entrance, leaving Kara and Lena in the back of the black sedan recovering from laughter. Thanks to the fries and water, Kara had sobered up some since finishing their last pitcher of beer. She observed her surroundings of cool dark leather seats and noticed Lena holding her arms against her chest with small goosebumps peppering her skin.

“Would you like my hoodie? I run hot, but I guess I just have a habit of bringing it with me everywhere.” Kara offered the garment with an encouraging smile.

“Oh...yes, that would be lovely. Thank you.” Lena accepted it and draped it across her shoulders.

The women settled in a comfortable silence as they observed the city lights drift by one after the other illuminating the interior of the car with a yellow glow. Kara noticed Lena staring out of the corner of her eye and she turned to meet her gaze.

“Hi.” Part of her hoodie was starting to slip off of Lena’s shoulder so she reached over and pulled it tighter around the woman’s body. “That hoodie looks good on you.”

Lena looked down and ran her fingers over the cursive embroidery on the front reading “ _Danvers”._

“Be careful, if you keep saying things like that I might try to steal it.”

Kara couldn’t help but think she would gladly let her steal her hoodie if it meant she could see her wearing it. There was something intimate about seeing Lena in her clothing, like she just gave her a piece of herself. But Lena was just a friend, so it couldn’t be intimate, it was just a kind gesture.

Before she knew it the car had pulled up outside her and Alex’s apartment. Lena cleared her throat and shifted in her seat going through some internal debate.

“Thank you, for tonight, Kara. It was-well, I just needed yo..er, this. I needed this.”

Lena started to shrug off Kara’s hoodie, but Kara stopped her with her hand resting on top of hers.

“Keep it, for now.” Kara smiled and stepped out of the car. She leaned down to bid farewell. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Yes,” Lena breathed out.

“Oh, this is awkward, I was talking to my hoodie,” Kara said with a grin.

Lena let out a big sigh. “God you are ridiculous.”

“Well, you’re stuck with me now, so you’re going to have to get used to it.” Kara gave her signature wink as Lena chuckled.

Kara shut the door and waved as the car pulled away into the night. “Bye Lucy,” Kara whispered to herself.

“LENA! Bye--Lena!” Her eyes widened with a jolt of fear. Why did she just do that?

Her smile dissipated to a look of concern as she blew out a big puff of air. This was bad.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Kara repeated to herself as she went up every step to the apartment. She found Alex on the couch watching some reality television show snuggled up with a blanket and bowl of popcorn. Alex absent mindedly waved to Kara as she continued to shovel popcorn in her mouth.

Kara got herself a glass of water and headed over to the couch to move Alex’s legs off the one side so she could sit.

Alex scoffed and threw Kara a look of displeasure. “Rude!”

Kara still carried her concern from outside and Alex seemed to notice something was amiss with her sister. She turned the tv off and turned so she was sitting cross-legged facing her with a look that said, “Tell me what’s going on.”

Kara didn’t really know where to start. She had gotten so good at compartmentalizing her life from that it seemed like it had happened so long ago. She reached across and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

“Do you remember Lucy from track team?”

Alex looked thoughtful. “Yoga girl? Didn’t you guys have a big falling out when you broke up with Mike? I always thought that was really crummy of her.”

Kara fixed her stare at the corner of the coffee table while munching on popcorn. “We did… that’s not why we had a falling out though.” Kara had finished her popcorn and was now fidgeting with the corner of the blanket Alex was using. “I went to see her the night after I broke up with Mike because I wanted to tell her why I did it.”

“You mean because he’s a Class A douche bag?”

Kara chewed the bottom of her lip and finally made eye contact with Alex. “Well yeah, but also because I had started to have feelings for someone else.”

Alex furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Okay, who was it?”

Kara tucked her knees to her chest and hugged her legs. She felt the sting of tears threatening to spill from behind her eyes. “Lucy,” she whispered almost inaudibly.

Alex’s facial expression didn’t change, she kept her calm sisterly demeanor, which was no doubt also training from the FBI. She scooted herself so that she was sitting next to her sister and shared her blanket by covering Kara’s legs.

“And Lucy didn’t feel the same way.” It wasn’t said as a question, more of a conclusion that Alex drew of her own accord.

Kara just nodded her head and rested her chin against her knees. “I’m sorry I never told you, I just didn’t really know what to do with all of those feelings. It was all so confusing back then and when she didn’t want anything to do with me afterward I just wanted to forget everything.”

Alex seemed to consider this new information. “Is that why you haven’t dated since Mike?”

“Kind of. I just didn’t want to deal with all of it, so I focused on school and running. It was just easier that way and it’s worked out fine until…”

Alex didn’t push. She just waited patiently for her sister to process.

“Until Lena.”

Alex regarded her sister with a knowing look and motioned for her to come closer so she could put her arm around her shoulders. Kara shifted to comply and was now cuddled up next to Alex’s strong frame.

“First of all, I love you no matter what. You know that right?”

Kara blew a puff of air out as tears started streaming down her face. “Mhm.”

“Okay, you also should know that you deserve to be happy. If that means focusing on your career and running now, that’s totally fine. But if you have feelings for Lena and she makes you happy, maybe you should see what happens? That doesn’t mean you have to ask her out right away, but it also doesn’t mean you should ignore how you feel and pack your emotions away into a little box shoved down deep. That never really works out. I’m pretty much an expert on that.”

“I just don’t want to lose her, you know? I don’t think I could go through that again. It’s one thing getting rejected, but to also lose your friend…it’s just too much.” She stated between crying hiccups.

“You don’t have to decide anything tonight, Kara. I think the important thing is just acknowledging how you feel and knowing that it’s okay.”

Alex gave her sister a weak smile and rubbed her back until the tears subsided.

“I’m going to be so dehydrated tomorrow, “ Kara joked. Humor was always her defense mechanism. Not that she really needed it with Alex, but tonight had been so emotionally exhausting she didn’t think she could handle anymore.

“Well, we might as well do a shot to celebrate then.” Alex got up from the couch to grab the bottle of vodka and two glasses.

“What exactly are we celebrating?” Kara wiped the tears from her face with the blanket now bundled around her body.

Alex poured the liquid into the glasses and handed one to Kara as she took back her seat on the couch. “We are cheersing to you, my dear sister, and how even though you like the ladies…” Alex wiggled her eyebrows to make Kara giggle, “You are still the same wonderful, amazing, _annoying_ woman that anyone would be lucky to have in their life. Except now I might have some competition in the field…so don’t go near Maggie.” Alex nudged Kara with her shoulder as the two women laughed.

“Love you sis.”

“Love you too, now take your shot.”

Kara threw back the glass and winced at the burn from the vodka. “I’m going to be so hung over.”

* * *

It was 3 days following the night at the bar and after much internal debate, Kara had decided to just see where things went with Lena and not try to make anything happen. She was happy being friends for now and getting to know Lena more in that light. 

Kara had texted Lena to set up another run together for Friday morning a.k.a., right now. She was running a bit late(no pun intended) due to the fact that even though she just wanted to be friends, she now felt the urge to look a little nicer in Lena’s presence. Therefore, she had gotten up her normal time, but wanted to French braid her hair and may have decided all of her clothes were horrible and she needed to borrow some of Alex’s cuter workout clothes.

They had decided to go running on a path by the water that day and even though Kara was late she was still able to find a spot relatively close to their agreed upon meeting point since it was ungodly early still.

Kara grabbed her phone and keys to run out of her car towards the pale woman she saw in the distance. As she got closer she was able to make out Lena talking to herself…again, and rehearsing something that sounded like a business proposal. She looked to be referencing some invisible presentation next to her and putting on some practiced facial expressions. Lena was so absorbed in her imaginary audience that she didn’t see Kara walk up.

“I accept!” She yelled with gusto, startling Lena from her presenter mode.

Lena smiled as she observed Kara. “You caught me again. I have a big meeting later today that I’m a bit nervous about, so I thought I’d get some practice in…your hair looks nice in braids.”

Kara felt a blush creeping up her neck. “Thanks, I just threw it together last minute (lie). And I’m sure you’re going to crush that meeting (not a lie).”

Lena continued to smile and it was now her turn to hide a blush. “Well if Kara Danvers thinks so, it must be in the bag.”

The women started their warm-up routine that Lena had now memorized so they could converse easily about weekend plans while switching movements and stretches.

“Kara, I don’t know if you remember this, but the other night at the bar you had talked about having a slumber party with me this weekend. Were you, um, serious?”

She stared blankly. Kara did remember that. She remembered everything about that night seeing as it was pretty groundbreaking for her.

“I mean, yeah, you’ve never had one before right? That seems pretty unjust if you ask me.”

Lena had this genuine hopeful look on her face. Like when you tell a child they are going to Disneyland for the first time or when they taste their first ice cream cone.

“Are you sure? I mean, I feel like it’s silly, right? Two grown women having a slumber party.”

Kara could tell even though she was questioning it so much Lena was really looking forward to it. She wondered how long Lena had been thinking about this.

“Do you want warm beer next time we play never have I ever?

Lena smiled and shook her head, “I definitely do not.”

“Alright, it’s settled then. Slumber party this weekend!”

Lena clapped her hands together excitedly like a giddy 10 year old. “Okay!”

As they started their run Kara tried to focus on the light dazzling over the water, the flocks of birds flying overhead, the smell of fresh morning air, but all she could focus on was the fact that she would be sleeping in the same room as Lena. It would be fine. It had to be fine. Absolutely, completely fine…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's happening! The slumber party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really got away from me because I wanted so much to happen, so I have to break the slumber party into 2 chapters. Enjoy part 1!

Saturday

**5pm**

“What are you doing?

Alex had just gotten home from work and walked in on Kara organizing and packing 4 grocery bags of supplies and a backpack in the middle of the living room.

“I told you, I’m staying at Lena’s tonight.”

Alex nodded in remembrance. “Right, your slumber party.” She peeked in the bags. “Will there be children at this party, because all of these movies are rated G,” Alex says as she holds up a stack of brightly colored DVDs.

Kara walked over to her and snatched them out of her hand. “No! Adults can watch them too, you know.” She placed them back in their respective bag as Alex eyed them a little too much for Kara’s liking.

“Stop being weird.”

“I’m not the one going to a slumber party at my adult friend’s house, so who are you calling weird?”

Kara sighed in defeat. “Touché. So what will you be doing tonight, my dearest sister?”

All of the sudden Alex broke out into a fit of nervous giggles. “I, um, may have a date with Maggie?”

“ALEX! Why didn’t you lead with that when you walked in?! That’s so exciting!” Kara clapped her hands in delight.

“I know! But I’m trying to not get like overly excited, you know? It’s just dinner.”

Kara scoffed. “You can do that while I throw a mini party in my head.” She rounded the couch to give Alex a big hug. “Tell me everything. Did you ask? Did she ask? Where are you going? What are you wear- ”

Alex detached herself from her sister and plugged her ears as she walked to her room and spoke with a loud tone to drown Kara’s questions out, “I’m going to go get ready!”

Alex shuts her door to a grumbling Kara. “Fine, I guess I’ll just finish packing then.”

**6pm**

Kara was standing outside of Lena’s apartment building. There was a doorman eyeing her suspiciously as she approached fumbling with all of her bags. He was dressed in a crisp uniform and his face was creased with age.

“Can I help you, Ms.?

“Umm, yes, I’m here to see a tenant, Lena-“ It suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea what her last name was. Did she really not know her last name after all this time?

“Yes, Ms. Lena instructed us to be ready for you, Ms. Kara I presume?”

“Yep, that’s me.” Kara smiled with relief. 

The man’s demeanor relaxed and he returned her smile. “You know I can’t remember the last time she’s had a visitor that wasn’t carrying a brief case. I’m glad she’s making some friends here finally. Would you like some help with those bags?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I actually pride myself in my ability to carry all of my groceries in one trip every time, so I’ve had plenty of training.”

This made the older man chuckle as he held the door open for her. Kara looked down at his uniform and his nametag read, “Henry.”

“It was nice to meet you Henry, have a nice evening!” Kara said as she made her way into the elevator.

“You too Ms. Kara. I hope to see you again soon.” He tipped his cap to her as the doors closed shut in the middle and the elevator jostled to life.

Kara watched the floor numbers tick by above the doors as she repeatedly tapped her fingers against the bag handles. She had been so preoccupied with making sure she had everything she didn’t really have time to acknowledge her nerves until now. Kara had slept over at her friend’s places plenty of times when she was young and even in college, but never with a friend she had feelings for. She would just have to keep things in check though because tonight was really about Lena and making sure she had a good time.

The doors opened finally to the top floor of the building. Kara stepped out into a hallway and found the door labeled 5A per Lena’s earlier text with her address. She sighed, placed the bags on the ground and looked over herself to make any last minute adjustments. Kara had decided to wear casual clothes and bring her Pajamas so as to not draw attention to herself when she made her way over. She wore some dark blue skinny jeans, her red Vans and a stripped black and white t-shirt with her hair down and tamed with a headband. The only difference between the Kara that Lena has seen is she opted to wear her thick framed glasses in place of having to take her contacts out later in the night.

Kara felt she was ready and lightly knocked on the door in front of her only for it to immediately swing open revealing a very excited Lena.

“Kara! Hi!” Kara wouldn’t even recognize the woman before her if she had compared her to the Lena she had first met looking up from the floor that night at work. That Lena was all sharp edges and composure. This Lena was practically vibrating with anticipation of their slumber party with her hair up in a messy bun and wearing an oversized white sweater, jeans and padding around her apartment in bare feet. Kara wanted to reach out and run her hands down the arm of her sweater…it looked so soft.

Lena looked down at the plethora of supplies she had collected at her feet. “You’re only staying for tonight, right?”

Kara followed her gaze and observed the bags around her. “Yeah, but I wanted to make sure you got the full sleepover experience…it’s too much isn’t it? I can probably go run some stuff down to my car, but what should I take out?” She started rummaging through bags and pulling out items as she felt hands rest on top of hers. Kara looked up into the emerald eyes close enough to see freckles of blue in them. 

“I was just joking Kara. I can’t wait to see what you have planned for us.” Lena spoke gently as she removed her hands. “Usually I’m the one who’s flustered, is everything okay?” Lena picked up two of the bags and looked at Kara with concern.

Kara nervously laughed. “I’m great, everything is perfect, where should we put everything?”

The two women walked into the apartment, which Kara soon realized was about 4 times as large as Alex’s. Kara knew it was a penthouse, seeing as she was on the top floor of the building, but she hadn’t connected to the fact that it would be so massive. There was a kitchen space as soon as you walked in with a large island separating it from the living area adorned with the largest couch Kara has ever seen and a large flat screen television positioned above a fireplace. The entire place barely looked lived in apart from a nook that Kara could make out next to the fireplace consisting of a massive amount of books piled on shelves and an arm chair that contained a Lena sized divot.

Kara could hear Lena talking, but she suddenly got very distracted with the far wall, which was purely made of pristine glass. Her feet carried her over to the window/wall and she stared awe struck at the whole of National City.

She didn’t hear Lena approach her side until she finally fell back to the present. “Sometimes I forget what a great view I have here. To be honest I’m not really home much during the daytime to enjoy it.” Lena looked down at Kara’s hands. “Did you hear me say you can put those on the island?”

Kara realized she was still holding the weight of 2 bags and her backpack while standing in the middle of Lena’s apartment. “Right, sorry, your apartment is so nice, I got distracted,” Kara laughed to herself. “Sorry.”

Lena dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “I’m glad someone is appreciating it. Would you like some wine?”

“Gosh, yes please.”

Lena laughed and led Kara to the kitchen.

Kara settled on a stool in front of the kitchen island as Lena deliberated on what bottle to open from her collection on the counter. She thought back to her interaction with the doorman, Henry.

“Hey Lena.”

The woman was now holding a bottle in each hand and examining the labels as she absent mindedly answered, “Hm?”

“What’s your last name?”

Lena looked up from studying the bottles and regarded Kara with a thoughtful expression as she placed the bottles down and rested her hands on the counter. “My full name is Lena—Luthor.”

Kara could see worry in her eyes for some reason. “Lena Luthor. Cool, I like the alliteration.”

Lena looked confused. “That’s, um, that’s it? You don’t think of me differently…or anything?”

Kara was now confused. “Should I?”

Lena nodded and grabbed one of the bottles of wine to fill up two glasses as she was deep in thought. She handed one to Kara and cleared her throat. “My father was Lionel Luthor, head of Luthor Corp – well, now it‘s L-Corp.” Lena’s eyes fixated behind Kara in the distance as if trying to see something far away. “He passed away last year when I was in Metropolis. Since my brother was currently partying somewhere in Europe I had to move here and step up to take over as head of the company.”

Kara was nodding and took a big swig of wine. Lena was the CEO of a multi-million dollar company that was also the home of the tallest building in the city. She remembered reading an article about the company in one of her journalism classes in college. Kara recalled the mention of the family’s daughter who had several degrees in engineering and the sciences taking on the company after a sudden death of the CEO aka her father.

“God, Lena, I’m so sorry that happened. That must have been so awful and then having to take on all those new responsibilities…I can’t even imagine how overwhelming that must have been for you,” Kara stated with reverence.

Lena’s eyes found Kara’s then and appeared to be searching her face for something.

Kara didn’t know when it started becoming normal to reach out to each other, but it was as easy as breathing to extend her hand out to Lena’s and resting hers on top with a gentle squeeze. “You’re still the same Lena to me,” she said with a reassuring smile.

Lena let out a slow breath she seemed to have been holding in for months and took a sip of her wine. “Can I, um, can I show you a picture of him?”

“Absolutely.” Kara was honored that Lena was opening up so much to her. She could almost hear the walls Lena had worked so hard to build around her slowly crumbling in the wake of her footsteps.

Lena rounded the island and went to her mini library to pluck a picture frame from one of the shelves (one of the few personal items Kara could see in the apartment) and strode over next to her.

It was a picture of a man in his 40s sitting across from a teenage Lena with a chess board in between them, both exuding complete and utter joy.

Lena grazed the side of the frame with her fingers as if it was her most precious possession. “My mother was the one who pushed ballet, horse riding, fencing and the like. I hated all of them, and my Dad knew it so at night he would teach me chess in his study. This was taken the first time I beat him.” She chuckled to herself. “He claimed he let me win, but he was so proud of me.” Lena sighed and took another pull of wine from her glass. “I miss him dearly.”

Kara reached out to hold the frame with a delicate touch as if it may fall to pieces at any second.

“How did he pass, if you don’t mind me asking?” Kara was treading carefully as this seemed to be vulnerable territory that Lena didn’t roam very often and she didn’t want to push too much.

“Heart attack. He had had heart problems for years, had a couple of surgeries, was on meds. But he loved his job, which created stress and whatever free time he had he spent with me and my brother instead of being mindful of the fact that he wasn’t very active the majority of his days. As the company grew he had less and less free time, I went to boarding school for high school, but barely heard from him while I was there.” Lena’s voice was getting smaller and smaller as she spoke until she barely whispered, “To be honest I’m scared I’ll end up like him one of these days.”

It all made sense now. Why Lena came into her store that night. That mention of her doctor recommending physical activity (which at the time seemed like an odd thing to say seeing as she looked perfectly healthy to Kara).

Kara placed the frame down in front of her and stood from her seat so she was at the same level as Lena, albeit a bit taller. She held her arms out open front of her as an invitation, but didn’t move any more so as to not force the action on Lena seeing as they haven’t had this kind of physical interaction yet. Lena nodded in consent and tentatively reached her arms around Kara’s waist. She seemed a bit lost until Kara wrapped her own arms around Lena’s shoulders and held her close to her own body while rubbing soothing circles on her back. It was then that Lena melted into the embrace while burrowing her face in Kara’s neck and grasping the back of her shirt in fistfuls.

Lena wasn’t crying, but she could feel her erratic breaths on her neck. As Kara continued to move her hand in circles, Lena’s breathing slowly started to even out. 

Kara was scared to speak, but settled on saying, “It’s never easy losing a parent.“

Lena unearthed herself from Kara’s body. Her hair was disheveled and her sweater was slightly askew. She blinked to adjust to the brightness of her surroundings, but still held her hands at Kara’s waist not wanting to let go.

“Have you? Lost a parent I mean.” Lena’s voice cracked as she spoke.

Kara pulled back and held her hands on Lena’s shoulders as she drummed her fingers there.

“Both. They were in a car accident when I was 10, so it was a while ago. The Danver’s adopted me pretty quickly though, so I didn’t have to stay in the system or anything like that very long, which was lucky.”

Kara removed her hands from Lena’s body and went to reach into one of the bags resting on the island. She held up Benji her stuffed bear to Lena and she took him with the same care that Kara had shown her photograph.

“Alex gave me Benji my first night at their house, he always makes me feel safe.” Lena ran her fingers along a frayed ribbon that was tied around the bear’s neck.

Kara followed her movements with her eyes. “That was my mothers’ ribbon. She always wore one in her hair when I was growing up and one day she took it out and put it in mine.” She smiles at recalling the memory. “He reminds me of both of my families now.”

Lena gives her a sad smile and leans in to talk into the bear’s ear to whisper, “Thanks for keeping my friend safe, Benji.”

Kara ducks her head shyly and laughs at Lena. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”

Lena looks at her in a way that she hasn’t seen before. It’s almost a pained expression when she says, “We are.”

**7pm**

After their almost immediate heart to heart at the beginning of their night they finished their glasses of wine while exchanging stories from their childhoods. Lena had now relocated to the couch as Kara put together something from her Mary Poppins-esque bags in the kitchen. 

“No peeking, Lena!”

Lena said, “Wouldn’t dream of it,“ as she snuggled further into the couch. “I never sit on this thing and I literally don’t know why, it’s so comfortable.”

“Where do you watch tv?” Kara questioned from the kitchen.

“I don’t really. I get home pretty late from work every night and I usually just sit in my arm chair and read with a glass of wine…or something stronger depending on the day.”

“Hm, I have my work cut out for me corrupting your lifestyle.” Kara joked from the kitchen as Lena pretended to throw a pillow at her.

Kara walked over in front of her holding up several bags of fun size candy bars and a pile of DVDs with a smile plastered on her face. She gave Lena the DVDs as she proceeded to open all of the bags and dumped them on the coffee table.

“What on earth are you doing, Kara?”

“I’m making it rain candy.” Kara stated like it was so obvious. “Because, WE ARE EATING CANDY FOR DINNER!”

Lena gave a hearty laugh. “Wow, I can’t even remember the last time I had any of these.”

Kara had already taken a bite out of one and talked around the mouthful of chocolate, “And you gotta pick a movie too.”

Lena looked down at the selection Kara had brought and looked back up in confusion. “I didn’t take you as a person who would enjoy these kinds of movies.”

Kara looked at them as she opened her second candy bar to find all the DVD covers either had a gun or knife on the front and involved the words: murder, death, kill or all three in the title.

“Ughhh, Alex must have switched them out when I was packing! Noooo,” Kara whined as she plopped next to Lena on the couch going face first into a pillow.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind these. And Benji and I can protect you.” Lena held up the bear as she patted Kara’s knee. “Yeah? Now let’s figure out if I have a DVD player…” she said as she eyed her television.

Kara shot up from her pillow. “How do you not know that?!”

After some fenagling Kara and Lena were able to locate the DVD player/remote and chose the least threatening DVD case per Kara’s standards. However, as the movie started she was quickly realizing she did not choose correctly. They were about 20 minutes in and Kara had already jumped 3 times, each time scooting incrementally closer to Lena. She had opted to sit on the opposite end of the couch (which was already fairly large) because after their hug Kara was starting to feel nervous again about being in such close proximity to this beautiful woman. However her anxiety level from this movie was outweighing her need to physically distance herself.

The fourth time Kara jumped Lena finally spoke up, “Kara, do you want to sit closer, it might make you feel better?”

By this point Kara was squeezing the living daylights out of Benji in anticipation of the next scare. It would be rude to turn her down, right?

Kara closed the distance between them and slid next to Lena bumping legs on accident. Kara cleared her throat. “Sorry, just a bit jumpy.”

“S’alright.” Lena’s head was facing the television, but Kara could tell her eyes kept darting over towards her.

“I um, meant to tell you earlier, I like your glasses. They suit you.” Lena was now looking over at her.

Kara absent mindedly adjusted the frames on her face. “Oh, thanks.” Kara smiled. “I only really wear them at night since they aren’t very conducive to running.”

“Do you want some blanket? There’s plenty to share.” Lena opened up the blanket covering her legs so Kara could scoot in next to her if she wanted.

“Yeah, sure.” Kara accepted her offer and Lena placed the blanket over her bottom half carefully tucking it in to keep the warmth in between themselves.

For all intents and purposes, this was a bad idea. Kara could now smell her Jasmine perfume, feel her wispy hairs falling out of her bun brush against her shoulder, hear her sharp intake of breath when something scary happened.

“You good?”

“Yep,” Kara croaked out. “Never better.”

**9:00 pm**

Lena and Kara had successfully polished off one and a half bags of fun size candy bars between the two of them during the movie. The wrappers littered the coffee table like a chocolate massacre had taken place. Credits were rolling on the screen and the women had ended up snuggled on the couch together. About halfway through the movie Kara had just decided to accept that physical contact was going to happen tonight. It meant a lot that Lena was finally letting her “in” emotionally and she didn’t want to send any mixed messages by rejecting her or acting differently. That was totally the only reason she was currently letting Lena rest her head on her shoulder and Kara had her legs partially tucked under Lena’s.

She looked over and saw that Lena’s eyelids were fluttering closed every couple of seconds.

“Umm, excuse me, it is only 9 o’clock! Everyone knows you have to stay up to at least midnight at a sleepover,” Kara stated to Lena as she nudged her ever so slightly.

Lena lifted her head from its resting place on Kara’s shoulder and stretched her arms above her head making the most adorable noise between a squeak and a groan. “I guess I should make some coffee then.” Lena untangled herself from the blanket (and Kara, much to her dismay) to got up from the couch. She padded over to the kitchen and started tinkering with the very intricate looking coffee machine on the counter. “Alright then, sleepover guru, what is next on our itinerary?”

Kara turned so she was resting her head on the top of the couch and eyed her supplies near Lena. “I believe it’s late enough to change into our PJs and then I think a classic game of truth or dare is in order!”

Kara joined Lena in the kitchen and rummaged through her backpack to locate her clothes she had packed. She pulled out an old college track t-shirt and the bottoms to her donut pajama set. Lena immediately started laughing

“Oh my God, Kara! You _would_ have donut pajamas.” Lena continued to chuckle as she sipped her coffee and lifted the pot to Kara in offer.

“You keep close what you find sacred Lena! And no, if I drink that I’ll be bouncing off the walls all night…you really don’t need to see that.” Kara held up her clothes in her hands. “Is there somewhere I can change?”

Lena set down her steaming mug of coffee. “I can show you since I should do a wardrobe change as well, so as to not upset tonight’s coordinator.”

“That’s a good choice, I hear she’s a stickler for following the schedule. “Kara stuck her tongue out playfully only to have Lena give her a light slap on the arm.

They navigated to the back of Lena’s apartment revealing a hallway with several doors lining the walls.

“First door on the right is a bathroom you can change in, I’ll be just down the hall if you need anything.” Lena walked the remainder of the hallway to the door at the end. 

Kara went in the bathroom and quickly changed into her pajamas. She then went back into the kitchen to shove her discarded clothing into her backpack. Lena was still in her bedroom getting ready, so Kara took this opportunity to take in the details in the apartment she wasn’t able to earlier. She wandered over to Lena’s reading nook to admire the books. It was mostly filled with books on sciences, but there were also historical fiction, biographies and even some sci-fi (which was surprising). Kara ran her fingers along a wooden chessboard sitting on top of one of the bookshelves that matched the one in the picture from earlier. Kara rubbed her fingers together to notice dust has been collecting on it.

_She must not have played in a while_.

There wasn’t much else personal in the apartment, so Kara sat back down on the couch and tried to figure out what to push on what remote to access cable television.

After five minutes of frustrated button mashing and finding a mystery third remote, Kara gave up on her mission and decided to see if Lena could help her.

She carried all three remotes in her hands to the partially closed door at the end of the hall and realized she wasn’t able to knock, so she yelled, “Hey Lena? I just have a quick question about your tv, can I come in?”

Kara heard Lena say something she couldn’t quite make out, but she interpreted it as a go ahead to push open the door with her shoulder. It revealed Lena, who was still fully clothed and a mound of clothing that looked to have been thrown out of her closet in haste.

“Lena?” Kara stood by the doorway like a child who walked in on their parent wrapping Christmas presents and didn’t know whether to leave or stay.

The woman looked up from her mess and immediately turned a deep shade of pink in embarrassment. “Kara! You weren’t really supposed to see this.” Lena gestured to the pile of clothes.

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “See what? This huge ass bed? It looks very comfortable.” She walked over and sat on the edge to observe Lena and see if her humor was helping or hindering the situation. There was a hint of a smile, so Kara felt good about her decision.

Lena went to sit next to her and the mattress dipped making Kara’s body lean towards her. “All I have are pretentious silk pajamas. I thought I still had my ones from college, but I can only find my t-shirt.” She held up a MIT shirt whose letters were crinkling with wear. “I don’t even like silk pajamas, they make me practically slide out of bed every morning, but that’s what my stylist bought me, so yeah – I think I just made myself sound even more pretentious.” Lena buried her head in her hands so that only her eyes were peering over the edges of her fingertips. “I’ll just go crawl into a hole now.”

Kara tilted her head to the side with a smile, “Truth or dare?”

Lena squinted her eyes like she couldn’t believe what had come out of her mouth, “Sorry?”

Kara started swinging her legs back and forth over the edge of the tall bed, “The game is starting, truth or dare?” She then put her hand up to her mouth as if to divulge a secret, “I’d pick dare,” and gave Lena a wink.

“Fine. Dare, “ Lena deadpanned.

“Perfect.” Kara hopped down from the bed and held up a finger to tell Lena she would be right back. No less than 30 seconds later Kara returned holding a pair of breakfast food pajamas, top and bottom – complete with cartoon bacon and eggs. “I dare you to wear these pajamas…or at least the bottoms since you have a shirt.”

Lena accepted the clothing from Kara while staring unbelievingly at the cartoon food saying, _You’re Egg-cellent!_ and _Don’t go bacon my heart!_ to each other. She let out a shaky breath like she couldn’t believe Kara had gone through the trouble of buying her a pair of $20 pajamas when it was probably the least expensive piece of clothing in her home.

Lena cleared her throat. “Dare accepted.”

Kara grinned with happiness. “Cool, so before you change into your new pajamas, “Kara picked up the remotes that had been deposited on Lena’s bed, “how do you get cable on your tv?”

Lena laughed, but looked confused at the items in Kara’s hands. “Where did those other two remotes come from?”

Kara sighed in defeat. “Never mind. Just hurry up and change! This slumber party guru is trying to stick to a schedule!” Kara jokingly wagged her finger at Lena as she was escorted out into the hall so Lena could change.

Kara returned to the couch and not a minute later Lena was proudly walking toward her in her new breakfast pajama bottoms and MIT shirt with a large pair of thick framed glasses perched on her nose.

“It’s like I’m looking into a mirror!” Kara teased.

“Ha – ha.” Lena sat beside Kara tucking her legs and leaning her side against the back of the couch. At that moment a disruptive rumbling came from Kara’s stomach. She rubbed her midriff and looked to Lean with pleading eyes. “Please tell me you have takeout menus?”

Lena laughed for real this time. “That, Kara Danvers, is one thing I am well versed in.”

Kara threw her fist in the air in celebration as Lena went to gather the leaflets off of her fridge. They decided on pizza and ended up ordering a vegetarian for Lena and a pepperoni for Kara…because, “Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself,” as Kara emphasized to Lena.

“I don’t doubt that for a second,“ Lena said as the two women settled back to their previous positions. “So, truth or dare?”

Kara stroked her chin dramatically as if deep in thought. “Truth!”

Lena thought for a moment and appeared perplexed. “I think I need help…what kinds of questions do people ask at these things?”

Kara thought back to her youth, and even drunken nights in college. “Oh, I dunno. I feel like when we were younger it was about crushes, secrets, your first kiss, embarrassing stories, relationships – stuff like that.”

Lena was having an internal debate, as she often did per Kara’s observations. “Umm, tell me about your first kiss?”

Kara’s answer was immediate. “Nick Johnson in the second grade. He asked if he could hold my hand when we were on a museum fieldtrip with my school. We toured the whole museum like that and then he kissed me before we got on the bus.”

“Awww, that’s sweet.” Lena gushed over adorable little Kara’s love life.

Kara was unimpressed by her story. “Eh, it’s whatever. Okay my turn, truth or dare?”

“Truth?” Lena said with a questioning intonation.

“Alright, how about…tell me about your first relationship.”

“Ugh, what relationship.” Lena grabbed a nearby pillow and hugged it to her chest. “I kind of, have never been in one. There was boarding school in high school, which wasn’t really conducive to relationships. Then in college my parents got me an apartment off campus to focus on my studies and I did a double major in engineering and physics, so there wasn’t really a lot of time for that sort of thing.”

Kara blinked in confusion. “You’re joking right? You’re like-“ Kara motioned to the general area of Lena, “-amazing! And ridiculously smart, funny, kind and sarcastic in just the right way!”

As Kara had been listing the best qualities of Lena, she was progressively becoming more and more crimson in the face and began slowly hiding behind the pillow she was hugging.

“And I mean…not to mention you’re completely gorgeous.”

Lena unearthed herself from her pillow defenses. “You really think so?”

Kara looked at her appreciatively. “Absolutely.”

Lena was about to say something when there was a knock at the door disrupting their game and a man yelling, “Pizza delivery!”

“I should probably go get that,” Lena said reluctantly and she got up from the couch leaving Kara questioning if she just made a big mistake.

* * *

It turns out everything was fine. Kara and Lena sat on the couch, each with a whole pizza in their laps while eating in comfortable silence.

“I’ve lost track, whose turn is it?” Kara said inbetween bites of her now half gone pizza.

“I believe it’s my turn to ask you, truth or dare, Kara Danvers?” Lena turned to look at her dramatically.

“Hit me with a dare, Lena Luthor!”

Lena seemed to be ready for her request and put her pizza down next to her to leave the couch and walk towards her bedroom. “I’ll be right back, I need to grab something for it.”

“Lena! What do you meannnn?!” Kara whined.

She returned shortly after dangling a pair of 4 inch Louboutins from her hand. “It seems fitting that since you’re teaching me how to run I teach you how to walk…in these.” She tosses them on the couch next to Kara.

She reactively moves away from them in disgust. “Do you remember how you found me when we first met, Lena?! I was faceplanted on the floor! And that was while wearing flat shoes.”

Lena considers this, but she doesn’t look like she’s willing to budge on the matter. “I’ll spot you, it’ll be fine! What’s the worst that could happen?”

Kara grumbled and put her pizza box on the coffee table in front of her with 1 slice left. “I’m saving you for later little guy, don’t worry.”

She slid on the shoes while sitting on the couch and decided to roll up her pajama pants to her knee so it wouldn’t look as ridiculous, well, less ridiculous walking around in donut pants and heels.

“Okay, here I go. Just going to walk around this apartment like a completely normal person. Just with spikes attached to my feet.” Kara pushed off the couch to propel herself forward to standing. Her arms were outstretched to steady herself and she seemed to maintain her balance.

Lena held her hands out towards Kara ready to steady her if she needed as Kara took a couple steps towards her.

“There you go, good. Just make sure to take small steps and walk heel-to toe,” Lena praised.

Kara was now between the kitchen and the couch walking on the hardwood floor. This wasn’t that bad, and it kind of felt powerful to be this tall. Just as she was feeling confident with her balance she looked to Lena who was still walking backwards in front of her with her arms outstretched. She had the most genuine smile spread across her face that lit a spark in Kara’s heart. Unfortunately, it also distracted her enough to lose her balance and pitch forward towards Lena.

She was ready though. Lena caught her under her elbows and steadied Kara enough for her to readjust her feet as both women laughed at the situation. However, their faces were now close enough for Kara to feel Lena’s breath tickle her neck with her new height advantage as their smiles slowly shifted to earnest expressions.

Kara froze. The whole world seemed to freeze. Lena’s hands didn’t make a move even though Kara had clearly regained her balance, and Kara who was now holding Lena’s shoulders didn’t ease up her grasp.

“Truth or dare?” Kara whispered.

Lena didn’t miss a beat. “Dare.”

It would be so easy to just say _I dare you to kiss me._ Six syllables were between her and Lena’s lips on her own. But then her mind was suddenly flooded with the image of her crying on her dorm room floor a couple years ago after being rejected by Lucy. She couldn’t feel that way again. It was all too much.

“IDAREYOUTODANCEONTHETABLE!”

Lena blinked. “Oh, okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had too much fun writing this. Hope you like it!

**10pm**

“So you just want me to get on the table and dance?” Lena questioned.

The heels Kara were wearing had since been discarded and the two women were standing in front of Lena’s coffee table analyzing its sturdiness. Lena didn’t have a kitchen or dining table since she literally had no use for them seeing as she didn’t have company over, so the only option was the coffee table or kitchen island.

“I mean, that’s what I did in college,” Kara reasoned.

“Yeah, but you were at a party with music and other people.” Lena crossed her arms obviously not approving of this dare.

“Your wish is my command.” Kara walked over to her party supply bags and pulled out a Bluetooth speaker. “This is actually perfect! We can kill two birds with one stone.”

“What are you on about?” Lena asked with confusion.

“You can dance on a table AND do karaoke!”

As Kara began scrolling through her phone to “find the perfect song”, Lena was clearing off the table in preparation. 

“Umm, Kara. I have a bit of a confession.” Kara looked up and found Lena with squinted eyes appearing guilty. “I don’t really know how to dance.”

Kara shrugged off the confession. “I mean, neither do I. You just kind of move to the beat…I thought you went to galas, don’t they dance at those things?”

Lena’s expression didn’t change. “Yes, _they_ do, not me. I don’t dance,” she stated matter of factly.

Kara pushed play on her phone and the speaker came to life emitting a Spice Girls song. She stepped up on the coffee table and held her hand out to Lena in invitation. “Well, welcome to Kara Danvers’ School of Dance Ms. Luthor.”

Lena giggled like a little kid and accepted Kara’s hand as she was pulled up onto Kara’s level. Kara then proceeded to reach out to lightly grasp both of her hands and start to sway to the beat vibrating through the speaker. There was a light hearted energy emanating through the apartment that made Kara feel like she was floating. Even though the space was easily 3,000 square feet, Kara’s world momentarily shrunk down to this small coffee table and dancing across from a woman wearing breakfast-pun pajama pants, a t-shirt from one of the most prestigious universities in the country and the most beautiful smile she’s ever witnessed.

“So I’m dancing right now? This is dancing?” Lena motioned to her movements.

Kara laughed. “Based on my expert assessment, yes, you are currently dancing.” They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, just moving their bodies in time with the beat of the music and every so often making eye contact to elicite laughter from one of them at the sheer ridiculousness of this activity.

Kara jumped down from the coffee table to snag two of the remotes from the couch and hand one up to Lena. “Alright, step one is complete. Now for step two: Karaoke!” Kara yelled into the remote like a microphone.

It took more convincing then Kara would have liked to get Lena to sing. Eventually, she acquiesced with the promise that Kara would sing with her and Lena would choose the song.

This left Kara standing on the table while she observed Lena scrolling through her phone’s music down below. Lena’s brows were furrowed in concentration as she absently nodded her head rhythmically to the current song playing in the background. She finally lit up with excitement as she seemed to locate what she had been searching for and scrambled to get back up on the table as the music started pouring out of the speaker.

Kara turned to her in surprise as she realized what song she had picked. “I Will Survive by Cake?”

Lena smiled as she shrugged her shoulders with her hands upturned. “I said I didn’t watch tv, not that I didn’t listen to music.”

The two women then held their respective remotes/microphones up to their mouths as they sang along. Kara was always one to be very animated during Karaoke, and tonight was no exception. If it was possible, she was acting even more animated to make sure that Lena felt comfortable with the silliness of the situation.

As the song continued Kara had apparently done her job and Lena became increasingly immersed in the lyrics and even initiated air guitar during a solo at the end of the song. Kara then chose to hop down from the table and act as Lena’s crowd, cheering her on and swooning over her Rockstar persona.

The music started to slow and finally ended, leaving Kara and Lena breathing heavily with exertion and elated smiles plastered on both of their faces.

**11pm**

Lena was getting them water after their antics on the coffee table. Kara had wandered over to the window overlooking the city to discover there was a handle to slide one of the glass panels and access a balcony. She placed her hand on the cold metal, but thought it impolite to open it before asking.

“We can go out if you like?” Lena joined her in admiring the view and handed her a glass of water as she sipped her own.

“Yes please,” Kara responded and hefted the door to the side, straining her upper body muscles enough to show off her definition.

The chilly night air cut through the women’s’ thin clothing immediately causing them to wrap their arms tightly around themselves.

“I’ll go grab something to keep warm.” Lena stalked back heading to the bedroom.

Kara didn’t mind the cold night air so much. It reminded her of when she would get home late from working at a restaurant in high school. She used to hop up on the trunk of her car and lay on the back windshield to look up at the sky. Taking in the expanse of all of the stars always made her feel so insignificant, but in a good way. Like all of these hardships and problems she worried about didn’t even matter because in reality it was merely a blip on the universe’s radar, like a drop of water to the ocean.

She migrated to sit cross legged on a nearby lounge chair and gazed overhead. That’s how Lena found her a minute later.

“Looking for aliens, are we?” Lena settled in the same chair as Kara sitting across from her on the space meant for your legs to lay. She handed Kara an oversized soft knitted cardigan that smelled of Lena’s perfume.

“Not today.” Kara quipped as she graciously donned the warm garment. It was then that she made out what Lena had put on to stay warm. “Is that my hoodie?”

Lena looked down at herself. It was in fact Kara’s hoodie and Lena did, in fact, start to blush at the observation. “Well, you did say it looked good on me…plus it’s really cozy.” Lena snuggled into it as she hid her hands in the front pockets to keep warm. 

“Right on both accounts,” Kara agreed as she leaned back further into the chair. She observed the woman seated across from her, in all of her breakfast pajama/stolen sweatshirt glory. Her bun had been slowly starting to fall out during their dance party inside and now Lena’s face was framed with wisps of hair blowing in the cool night air.

“It’s time for our last slumber party activity,” Kara declared as she motioned for Lena to turn around in her seat.

Lena gave her a skeptical look, but did as she was requested. Kara then gently started to untangle her hair from where it have been tied up as Lena hummed in appreciation.

“Is this okay? Braiding each other’s hair is the last activity, in case that wasn’t clear already. I know that wasn’t on your “Never Have I Ever” list, but it’s pretty classic as far as sleepovers go.”

“Mhm, it’s fine,” Lena agreed.

With Lena’s consent, Kara carded her fingers through her long raven hair making her way up to her scalp to start separating it into sections to braid.

“Eliza, my adoptive mom, used to braid my hair before my high school track meets. She always said she was weaving in good luck.”

Lena laughed appreciatively. “Well make sure to weave some into mine, yeah?”

With the faint sounds of cars driving and people talking on the streets below, Kara continued to interlace Lena’s hair into a long single French braid cascading down her back, only interrupted by the hood on her sweatshirt. She rolled a hair tie from her wrist to wrap around soft hair.

“There, all done,” Kara proclaimed.

Lena spun around in her seat to ask Kara, “Well, how does it look?”

Kara admired her work and reactively tucked a loose strand that had strayed from its section of hair behind Lena’s ear. She hadn’t realized what she had done until she saw how Lena’s eyes widened in surprise at the gesture.

“Umm, there, now it’s perfect.” Kara started nervously picking at a loose thread in the sleeve of the cardigan she was wearing.

“Your turn?” Lena asked.

“Okay, yeah.”

Kara turned in her seat, but Lena made a disapproving noise. “Um, you’re a bit too tall for me to reach.”

“I can go on the floor.” Kara transitioned to sitting cross legged on Lena’s patio with her back leaning against the side of the lounge chair. All of the sudden she felt a warmth radiating from either side of her body. That’s when she realized that Lena’s legs were now on either side of her, effectively straddling her form while she felt her delicate touches on her scalp.

“Ohhh, my God,” Kara whispered to herself...or at least she thought it was a whisper.

It seemed Lena hadn’t realized what she had done until she had obviously overheard what Kara murmured to herself and fingers stilled in her hair. Then, as quickly as that lateral warmth had appeared, it vanished as Lena pulled her legs back up on the chair.

“God, Kara, I didn’t mean to – I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable. I’m so sorry…”

It hadn’t been a bad sensation (obviously), it had just been unexpected and made Kara’s brain short circuit for a hot second making her utter words she very much wished she hadn’t.

Kara turned herself to find Lena practically falling out of the lounge chair to get as far away from her as possible with such an alarmed expression it made Kara’s heart ache.

She held out her hands to Lena as if approaching a skittish wild animal trying not to scare it off. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I just wasn’t anticipating… _that_.” Kara reached one of her hands out to find the closest part of Lena, which happened to be her ankle peeking out of her pajama pants. “Can you braid my hair please? Because it keeps getting in my face. It’s a safety issue really if you think about it.”

Lena wasn’t buying it. “Your hair is perfectly fine Kara.”

Kara then flipped her hair so it was covering her face, much like the girl from The Ring, but instead of exuding creepiness it was just dorky and adorable. “This looks perfectly fine to you?! I could easily trip and fall like this Lena, and it would be all your fault.”

Kara couldn’t see Lena through her curtain of hair, but she finally heard her new favorite sound in the world, and that was Lena Luthor’s laugh. 

“You’re so ridiculous.”

Kara removed her hand from Lena’s ankle to part her hair and peer through the loose strands. “So I’ve heard.”

Lena tentatively migrated to the edge of the seat and sat cross legged motioning for Kara to return to her previous position. Kara gladly complied and swiveled around on the cold tiled floor of the balcony. She felt cautious hands in her hair, slowly gathering golden strands so it all fell against her back. Fingers brushed against her neck with barely there contact and Kara closed her eyes to bask in the moment. Concentrating on Lena’s touch and the muffled sounds of the city night. It was something so trivial that had been done to Kara’s hair on a multitude of occasions by her family, teammates, friends…but with Lena it was everything. Kara sensed the care she took to not pull too tight, her palm smoothing out rogue strands being taken away with the night’s breeze.

She could stay here forever. 

Kara had gotten lost in the moment, and it wasn’t until she felt a squeeze on her shoulder she realized that Lena was talking.

“Kara? Did you fall asleep on me?”

She opened her eyes and took a breath to acclimate to the loss of touch. “Nope, I’m still here.” Kara repositioned herself facing Lena, but still seated on the ground. 

The woman gazed at Kara appreciatively, her eyes staring at her handiwork and then roaming Kara’s face with an appreciative expression, but then stifled a yawn with the back of her hand.

Kara laughed. “I think it’s about bedtime, don’t you?”

Lena continued to cover her partially open mouth and nodded with vigor.

**Midnight**

Kara and Lena had separated to their own bathrooms to get ready for bed. Kara had just finished and was zipping up her backpack, which she had leaned against the side of the couch in the living room. She found a throw pillow and was starting to set up camp for the night. 

“Kara? What are you doing?” Lena was standing partially covered by the darkness of the hall in leading to her bedroom.

“Oh, just setting up my bed for the night. I usually sleep on an air mattress, so this is actually a step up.” Kara patted the plush couch cushions on either side of her.

Lena regarded her with an appalled expression. “An air mattress? Like, what people use for camping?”

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, I’m sleeping in Alex’s office and we haven’t gotten around to finding a big kid mattress yet…also they cost money.”

“Oh, I see. Well in that case I can’t have you sleeping there when I have a perfectly comfortable bed you will appreciate. I’ll take the couch tonight.” 

“Lenaaa, I’m not kicking you out of your own bed!” Kara complained as both women crossed their arms to note their individual stubborn natures.

Eventually, Lena let out a sigh as she lowered her arms to her sides and started mindlessly rubbing her fingers over the embroidery on Kara’s hoodie. “We could, um, both sleep in the bed?” Lena rushed to explain further, “It’s large! Very big.” She opened her arms up to demonstrate. “We could probably fit like four people in that bed including me…”

Kara’s eyebrows shot up at Lena’s last statement and it seemed to dawn on her what exactly she had just said.

“No! I didn’t mean – I’ve never had that many people in my bed, God. I’ve never even had another person in my bed, imagine four? That just sounds like – so much work.” Lena laughed nervously and then stood there with her mouth hanging ajar struggling to recover.

Kara walked over to her and began inspecting the back of her neck.

“What – um, are you doing Kara?”

“Oh, me? I’m just looking for your reset button. You seem to have frozen.”

Lena tugged the hood of the sweatshirt over her head and hid beneath the soft material groaning. “How do you do that?”

Kara moved in front of Lena, peering up into the hood trying to find her eyes. “Do what?”

Lena pulled the hood back just enough to peer out from underneath the gray clothing. “Make light of situations and just make everything…okay?”

Kara bit her bottom lip, unsure how to answer. “I guess I just spent a lot of time being _not okay_ after my parents passed? Enough for a lifetime it felt like. It was just so exhausting.”

She recalled the stabbing sadness that would fill her body every time she woke up in the morning as a child and would remember they were gone. It was so much sometimes that it would completely engulf her until she felt the only way to function was to find a way to empty it somehow. So she ran. Kara ran until she felt her muscles burn with exertion and her breathing came in gasps. Each exhale letting go of just a miniscule amount of her pain.

Lena dropped the hood from her face to give Kara her full attention.

“When I finally got in a better headspace, which kind of took a while, I just decided I wanted to be the person that makes people smile, you know? Especially the ones I care about…because I know what it feels like when a smile seems something so far in the distance you can’t even fathom it crossing your own face.”

Kara stated it as if it was her only option. Like anyone else who would have been handed her life events would do the exact same selfless thing.

Lena regarded Kara with a tilt of her head as if she was trying to figure her out like an unfinished equation she just couldn’t complete. “Sometimes I just can’t quite believe you’re real.”

Kara started to play with the end of her braid with restless hands. “Yep, as real as it gets.” She then walked over to find Benji on the couch to hold him close to her chest. “Just so you know I’ve been told I move around a lot in my sleep, so you might want to inform the 3 other people that will be fitting into your bed.” Even though she knew she shouldn’t, Kara couldn’t resist winking as she padded past Lena making sure to nudge her with her hip slightly, eliciting a gasp followed by Lena burrowing herself back into the safe space of her hoodie.

They stood at the foot of the bed, Kara clutching Benji for dear life and Lena hiding her fidgety hands in the pockets of her pajama pants. Their hoodie and cardigan were now hung up on hooks by the bedroom door and the lights had been dimmed to blanket the room in a soft glow.

Lena cleared her throat. “Do you, um, have a preferred side?”

Kara considered. “I kind of have to sleep in the middle because my mattress slowly deflates throughout the night and I end up cradled on either side by it by morning…so basically either is fine with me.”

Lena scoffed at the comment and made her way over to the left side of the bed, peeling back the white fluffy comforter and scooting herself in. She then did the same on the right side of the bed with the comforter and patted the freshly revealed sheets as an invitation for Kara, eyebrows raised in question.

You didn’t need to tell Kara twice to get into a bed that looked that comfortable after her restless nights struggling with her own. Her eagerness absolutely had nothing to do with the fact that the beautiful Lena Luthor would reside next to her.

Not. One. Bit.

She climbed in and immediately let out an involuntary sigh of appreciation as she felt her body supported by soft foam.

Kara turned to Lena as both women discarded their glasses on their respective nightstands. “It’s like we’re laying on a freaking cloud Lena!” She snuggled into the mattress and comforter. “I can’t believe I almost slept on the couch.”

Lena laughed as she relaxed her own body and let her head hit the pillow and comforter envelope everything below. The two women were facing one another, each on either side of the bed with a void in between. They wore comfortable smiles and a gleam of contentment in their eyes that Kara hadn’t felt in so long.

“Kara I –” Lena started, but appeared to be struggling to find her words until she let out her own sigh and changed her expression to one of adoration with glossy eyes. “Thank you, for tonight. For being my friend. For, just, everything.” A tear escaped and followed gravity down to her pillow as she showed a contrasting smile.

Screw it. It pained Kara to physically distance herself from Lena right now, so she slowly started to wriggle her way over the vast expanse until she was close enough to feel her warmth radiating underneath the blankets. She searched her face to make sure she wasn’t crossing any lines, and she found hope.

“Can I – do you want to…?” Kara unearthed her arms from being tangled in the duvet and opened them as she felt herself opening up her heart simultaneously. It was an offer of solace. Her need to comfort Lena currently outweighing any past insecurities of how Lena may interpret her actions.

When she didn’t immediately make a move towards Kara, an inner panic started to settle in her stomach. But this moment meant something, she could tell it held weight and Kara had a feeling that she should give Lena some time.

“You deserve the world, Lena Luthor.”

Lena finally closed the distance between them and halted a breath away, her eyes holding a million questions. “How should I…?”

Kara understood and tentatively guided Lena’s head to fall on her shoulder as she tucked her chin to rest on top of her dark braided hair. Kara then loosely grasped one of Lena’s arms and guided it so it lay across her body and her teddy bear as she wrapped her own arms around Lena with delicacy, but with enough pressure to let her know she was there. That she would always be there.

“Is this okay?” Kara questioned once they were settled in their new sleeping arrangement.

She felt Lena sigh into her neck as she nuzzled closer and held Kara tight, like she was afraid of this moment being torn away. 

“It’s perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, comments appreciated :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after...

The first sensation Kara experienced when she woke up the next morning was the brightness streaming through the windows.

The second sensation Kara felt was warmth from the body positioned in front of her. At some point during the night she had started spooning Lena, and based on how their bodies were now intermingled, it wasn’t detested. 

The third sensation Kara noticed was a light tickle ascending and descending her arm now wrapped snuggly around Lena’s stomach where Benji had somehow found a home during the night. At first assessment, Kara deemed it to be a wisp of hair, but it continued its movement in a rhythmic fashion never deviating from its repetitive path.

She cautiously lifted one eyelid open and after adjusting to the morning light she noticed Lena’s arm shifting in time with the tickle she felt.

Kara focused intently on her own arm and now realized she could feel the slight scratch from nails and softness from pads of fingers gracing over her skin. 

She had thought so many times about waking up like this and the feeling of being completely content washed over her slowly working its way over her body, much like the rays of the morning sun.

It was an involuntary action to squeeze Lena just a little tighter, get that much closer to this feeling Kara never wanted to end. Unfortunately, Lena’s hands stilled at the new movement from Kara and she felt the woman in front of her tense slightly, as if caught in the act.

“Kara?” Lena rasped out with her early morning voice.

She didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want this (whatever it was) to stop, but based on historical data from Kara’s past, it would. Because the truth of the matter is that it isn’t typical to wake up spooning your friend while she caresses your arm, but neither of them are going to admit that.

So Kara begrudgingly accepts this and clears her throat as she removes herself from the snuggled mass in front of her while shifting to give Lena some space. She doesn’t apologize though. The old Kara who was a gay mess in college would have apologized. Hell, she was in this exact same situation with Lucy when they shared a bed in a hotel at an away track meet(see historical data). Kara had unknowingly woken up with the object of her desire safe in her arms. But in place of feeling content all she felt was panic with “I’m sorrys” pouring out of her mouth and Lucy avoiding her the rest of the trip.

But what she felt with Lena in her arms --` Kara is not sorry for.

Lena rolled over, her arms holding Kara’s teddy bear and stray hairs poking out from sleeping on her braid.

“How long have you been awake?” Lena questioned as she reached out to grasp Kara’s wrist and hold up the digital watch attached close to her glasses-free face. She squinted to read the time as Kara felt her breath puff out when she found her answer.

“It’s 9?! I haven’t slept in this late in so long!”

Kara laughed at her shock. “All that dancing must have tuckered you out.”

Lena gave a fake pout. “Or all that snuggling made me so cozy I passed out for 9 hours,” she reasoned.

Not apologizing for cuddling AND acknowledging it in a positive manner? This was new territory for Kara and she didn’t quite know how to proceed. Maybe her content bubble didn’t have to burst after all.

“Sooo, you were cozy last night?” Kara tried to ask nonchalantly while fiddling with the foot of the stuffed animal residing in Lena’s arms.

“Oh yeah, Benji is a great snuggler.” Lena stated while trying to hide her smile behind the stuffed bear’s head and peering over with a playful glint in her eyes.

Kara gasped in mock horror. “Traitor!” She poked the bear in the belly and tugged him down to reveal Lena’s grin.

They both chuckled at their morning antics until Lena’s face settled into something more serious and clarified, “It was also nice cuddling with the other person in this bed.”

Kara couldn’t stop the smile from taking over her face if she tried. Unfortunately, she also couldn’t stop the pink hue that her cheeks now took on as she tried to downplay her sheer happiness. “Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Sooooo, breakfast?”

Crushed it, she was so smooth.

Lena immediately transformed into hostess mode. “Of course, I picked up some bacon and eggs yesterday for us. I guess they will match my new fancy pajamas!” She donned her glasses and extracted herself from the mass of blankets and sheets to hold her arms close trying to fight off the morning chill. Lena reached for the hoodie on the hook by the door and slipped into it like it belonged to her making Kara’s heart swell. “I’ll get started if you want to sleep in a bit more.”

And with that Kara was left alone in Lena’s bedroom as she heard echos of pots and pans clinking in the kitchen. The daylight exposed the inordinate amount of white blanketing the whole room from the walls to the bed Kara was currently inhabiting. Much like the rest of her apartment there were little to no personal touches regarding decorations and it read as pristine if you didn’t count the pile of clothing that had been torn apart by Lena the night prior when attempting to find her pajamas and a stack of worn books on Lena’s nightstand.

Kara’s stomach gurgled with hunger and convinced her to gravitate towards the kitchen to join Lena, but not before wrapping herself with the woman’s cardigan still hung up from the night before. As soon as she stepped out into the hall her senses were invaded with the wafting aroma of cooking bacon, which immediately made Kara’s mouth water. She was drawn to the source like a beacon and before she knew it she was standing next to Lena eyeing the sizzling goodness.

“It smells so good Lenaaa.” Kara about whined next to her while she multitasked prodding the meat and eggs in separate skillets with her spatula.

Lena chuckled to herself. “It’s almost done, darling.”

It seemed the term of endearment slipped from Lena’s mouth so easily and it made Kara pull towards her that much more. It was then that Kara felt a warm pressure on her lower back. When she glanced in between them she saw that Lena had comfortably placed her hand there as she continued to work at the stovetop.

Kara was smart enough to internalize her panic this time. _Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit._

It was as if their act of cuddling last night had opened the floodgates of physical affection deemed normal for their friendship. Kara was not complaining.

She felt Lena observing her from the corner of her eye, seemingly waiting for a reaction from the new contact. Obviously wanting to encourage it, Kara closed the gap between them by leaning her body weight ever so slightly against Lena’s side as if to say, “This is lovely, please don’t stop.”

Lena subtly released a breathe she seemed to have been holding and continued the one-handed work in front of her while slowly running her hand in small circles on Kara’s back.

Kara swore she had a daydream like this before she even met Lena. I mean, a beautiful woman cooking her breakfast food while holding her lovingly…could it get any better?

Lena’s voice tickling her ear brought her back to the present reality (not a daydream). “I think everything is finally ready, want to grab some plates from the far cupboard?”

“Mhm.” Kara regretfully moved away from Lena’s hold and noticed that the hand on her back followed her until Lena’s arm couldn’t reach any longer. It was a mindless act, one displaying how much it seemed Lena was enjoying their new friendship development.

Kara grabbed 2 plates and set them down on the counter behind Lena when she noticed a small rectangular piece of paper with her name on it. It was a check, made out to Kara Danvers for a ridiculous amount of money. She picked it up and started at it disbelievingly.

“Umm, Lena, what is this?”

The woman standing at the stove top had turned around with a skillet of eggs to deposit on their plates, and saw what Kara was referencing. She acknowledged Kara with a nod and continued her actions separating the contents of the skillet between the dishware.

“That—is your paycheck. Sorry it’s taken so long for me to get it to you.” Lena returned the skillet to the stove top and eyed Kara, observing her blank stare. “Remember, I said I would pay you for basically being my personal running coach?”

Kara had honestly forgotten about that portion of their agreement. Once they became closer their sessions just became two friends getting together for a run, not a coach and a client. She suddenly felt slightly nauseous.

“I mean, now I remember I guess, but now we’re friends. Friends do stuff like this without the expectation of money in return Lena.”

Lena was now dispersing bacon onto the plates as she continued to defend her actions. “Kara, I’m a woman of my word. If I say I’m going to do something, I do it. I said I would pay you, so I’m paying you.” She rid herself of the cookware in the sink to clean later and crossed her arms. “You took the time to make a training plan. Plus you meet with me in the early morning, when I know for a fact that you like sleeping in.”

Kara huffed in exasperation, still holding the check in her hands. “Lena, you’re obviously worth doing those things for!” Kara tugged her cardigan closed around her, expecting a retort. But she was only met with a woman struggling to find her words.

“I, umm – well thank you. But that doesn’t change the fact that you deserve what’s in your hand either.”

Kara started at the piece of paper that had been flapping around as she was frustratingly gesticulating during this conversation. “Oh, you mean this?” she said as her hands grasped both sides and ripped the check in two in a very slow, dramatic movement.

Lena gasped. “You did not just do that?!”

Kara was now having a little too much fun torturing Lena. “Do what? Oh, you mean do this?” She ripped the check again.

“Kara Danvers, I swear -- I have never met someone so stubborn in my life!” Lena plopped down on a stool and pulled a plate in front of her to grasp a piece of bacon and tear into it with force.

She may have gone too far. Kara tentatively walked over to the stool next to Lena and sat facing her while Lena was still very much focused on her plate of food.

“Look, I know you made a promise and it means a lot that you don’t want to break that promise to me.”

Lena only indicated she was listening by a side glance she gave Kara’s way, so she continued talking, “But at the same time, it kinda makes me feel icky taking your money…like you’re paying me to be your friend or something, which is definitely not the case.”

Kara regarded the woman next to her and she could see at least Lena wasn’t upset anymore. “How about this, if the promise of payment means that much to you, you can just do me a favor. Like make me dinner or something.”

Lena perked up and swiveled on her stool towards Kara. “That could be amendable. Dinner…or something?” 

Kara didn’t like how Lena seemed to be deep in thought while pondering the “or something” she had given as an option.

“Lenaaaa, just be reasonable, okay? Nothing crazy,” Kara pleaded.

Lena dragged the other plate of food towards Kara as she gave a mischievous smile. “Not reasonable, crazy, got it.”

Kara shoved a forkful of eggs in her mouth while muttering about how she didn’t like how much she was rubbing off on Lena. 

The two women enjoyed the remainder of their breakfast together after that with talk of their activities last night and their plans for the day ahead. Kara had to work later in the day and Lena was planning on catching up on some work as well. They planned a run for Monday morning together and they went to work cleaning up the apartment while gathering Kara’s items.

Kara had noticed that ever since they had this unspoken consent for friendly physical affection, Lena would go out of her way to give Kara a shoulder squeeze here or a back graze there in the midst of organizing. So Kara decided to reciprocate because otherwise it would hurt Lena’s feelings (which is what she continued to tell herself while she ran her fingers down Lena’s arm in thanks for handing her a DVD).

They had gathered everything together and set it by the door while both standing awkwardly next to it, not wanting their night/morning together to end.

Kara’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Do you want to take a picture together? I feel like last night was a pretty big milestone in your life,” she joked.

Lena looked down at herself. “You want a picture of me like this?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You look perfect!” Kara reasoned as she searched for the camera app on her phone, completely missing how her words caused a dusting of color on Lena’s cheeks.

Kara motioned for Lena to get next to her as she stuck her arm out as far away as it would go while wrapping Lena up with her free one. Lena had tucked her arms around Kara’s waist and pressed her ever reddening cheek against Kara’s.

“Alright, say CHEESE!”

The two women grinned with unabashed joy radiating off of them as Kara took several pictures, including a silly one at the end where Kara stuck out her tongue and Lena acted appalled (which was a pretty accurate representation of their friendship thus far).

As their laughs died out Kara left with promises to text later at work if she was bored, a hug that lasted longer than it should have and a stolen cardigan that smelled of jasmine.

* * *

When Kara arrived back at her apartment where there was no sign of Alex and she realized she was cutting it close if she wanted to get to work on time. She left all of her bags by the door and made a B line for the shower while undoing her expertly braided hair. When she was done she went to her room and threw on some workout clothes, silently thanking the fact that she could get away with wearing this stuff to her job, and tamed her wet hair in a bun.

While collecting her things and a snack for later in the living space Kara noticed a dress on the floor that didn’t look like Alex’s style (because it wasn’t black). Next to the dress was a single high heel laying on its side with its match about 3 feet away…all of which leading a trail to Alex’s bedroom. Then came the voices…as in plural, more than one, coming from that closed door.

As soon as Kara put the pieces together in her head she let out an excited squeal that her sister had apparently had a good night. She hastily finished grabbing her stuff to throw in her backpack so as to not disturb whatever her sister was up to at the moment, which she frankly didn’t want to think about, and left the apartment in a flash.

She got to work just in time for her shift to start and found James and Winn hovering around a map at the front counter. 

“What are we looking at boys?” Kara questioned as she put her backpack behind the counter and stood next to Winn.

Neither of them looked up as they were in deep concentration. “I’ve been coordinating for the past month for our store to host a small 5k race and we are trying to figure out the route,” James said as he dragged his pointer finger down several lines of street. Kara glanced from James to Winn, and seeing as they made no indication of moving out of her way she started to collect the map and move it to the corner of the store resulting in James and Winn’s protests.

She held up her hands to silence them. “I’m just going to relocate this over here and help the nice customer waiting behind you.”

The two men looked behind them and now noticed a very patient man holding a pair of socks waiting to pay. “Um, hey, can I buy these?”

James and Winn mumbled to themselves and went to their corner as Kara turned to the customer. She smiled politely as she returned to the counter. “Of course you can!”

The afternoon then consisted of arguing coming from the corner of the store while Kara helped customers that trickled in throughout her shift. At one point she had to escort the guys to the back stock room because someone inquired about Winn’s mental state when he was seen pulling at his hair in frustration during their mileage calculation.

This left Kara up front by herself at the end of the day texting back and forth with Lena, as promised. She had sent her all of the pictures from earlier of the two of them and now Kara was informing her of their run plans for the following morning. She was mid-text when James and Winn emerged from the back room with bags under their eyes and confidence in their strides.

“Who finally figured out the race route?” Winn asked while dramatically cupping his hand to his ear waiting for James to answer.

Kara took it upon herself to give Winn his recognition since James did not seem amused. She threw her hands in the air giving a cheer. “My boy Winn did!” He then dusted his shoulders off as they both laughed.

“You know I could fire both of you, right?” James warned, even though Kara and Winn knew it was an empty threat.

“You love us too much.” Winn stated as he gave Kara their signature high five.

James scoffed. “Well on that note, you guys can get outta here. I can close up.”

* * *

Kara cautiously opened the door to her and Alex’s apartment after driving home from work. She peeked around the corner and dramatically yelled, “I’m now entering the apartment!” Only wanting to find her fully clothed sister.

Fortunately, that’s what she found. Unfortunately, in addition to Alex wearing clothes she was also wearing a very smug expression while staring Kara down from her vantage point on the couch.

Kara looked at her for a moment while slowly putting her backpack down on the ground next to the arm chair and taking a seat. “Can I help you?”

Alex cleared her throat as she crossed her legs and held them with her interlaced fingers, much like she would during an interrogation. “Would you like to share with the class why we received a delivery today?”

Kara cocked her head to the side in confusion. “I don’t know, did you order something?”

“Oh no, _I_ didn’t order anything my dear, sweet sister.” Alex laughed and pointed to Kara’s closed bedroom door. “Why don’t you take a look?”

Kara glared skeptically at her sister, not liking being greeted like this after a long day. But she did as was suggested and moved to open the door. She tentatively turned the handle and pushed it open to reveal a very plush, very much not filled with air, mattress now taking up the right side of her room.

Alex yelled from the living area, “You might want to read the note that was sent with it.”

Kara searched and saw a crisp piece of paper laying at the foot of the bed. She walked over and leaned down to read the pristine cursive handwriting. 

It read: _I always keep my promises, Kara Danvers. I hope Benji enjoys your “-or something”._

_-Lena_

Kara held the paper in her hand and turned to sit down on her new sleeping arrangement because her shock was making it very hard to remain upright. She was still staring at the note when Alex appeared in her doorframe and leaned against its side while crossing her arms. “Do you want to tell me why the girl you’re crushing on sent you a mattress? A mattress that is _way_ nicer than mine, might I add.”

Kara circled one of her hands in the air, trying to think of how to explain it while not being able to tear her eyes away from the elegant writing. “It was like a thing, she was supposed to pay me for couching her, but then we became friends. Then she tried to pay me, and that was – weird, so I told her to just…do me a favor?” She finally looked up from the paper and threw herself back on the mattress (which was extremely comfortable, but that’s not the point) “Lena freaking Luthor.” Kara breathed out.

She heard Alex move from her spot and felt the bed sink by her legs. “Wait, your Lena is Lena Luthor?”

Kara turned on her side to view Alex with concern. “Yeah, why?”

Alex threw her arms up in the air like it was so obvious. “Because Kara! She’s like the owner of a multimillion dollar company!” She stroked her chin mockingly. “Do you think if you guys start dating she’ll buy me a new mattress?”

That comment earned a swift smack with the nearest pillow as Kara shot upright. She had to stop herself from whining for Alex to quit it because she knew that would just make the comments worse, so she chose a different approach. “Why, did you break yours last night?” Kara wiggled her eyebrows in delight when she noticed Alex’s expression shift from smug to flustered.

“What?” Alex scoffed. “No, I – we didn’t…I mean, we did, but it wasn’t like --,” She stammered.

Kara decided to cut her off and end her misery as she reached out her hand to quiet Alex’s very active gesticulation. “I’m happy for you Alex.”

The two sisters smiled at each other then and seemed to both wave their white flags in surrender regarding their teasing.

“Thanks Kar. So how was your sleepover? It must have been good, because…” Alex motioned to the new furniture on which they were currently lounging. Kara and Alex exchanged stories from their nights, but Kara decided to leave out the snuggling bit and keep that memory just for herself a little while longer. Alex, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically open with trying to divulge way too many details for Kara’s liking, which ended in her muffling her ears with her hands and shooing her sister out of her bedroom.

After Kara shoved the door closed on Alex, she stared at her phone trying to figure out what to text Lena. I mean, what do you even say to someone that just bought you a surprise mattress? Ultimately she decided to let it go and just talk to her in the morning when they meet up for their run. Kara grabbed some sheets Alex had left out for her and set up her new bed. Once she was sufficiently snuggled in Kara closed her eyes trying not to think about how her mattress would be that much cozier if the person who gifted it were laying in her arms.

* * *

She pulled up in her car near their agreed upon meeting spot the next morning. Her night had been filled with a restless sleep, which was a disappointing way to break in her new bed to say the least. She couldn’t decide if the culprit was her excitement to see Lena or just wanting to get their first interaction out of the way after receiving her “special delivery”. Either way, she was now walking up to the park they frequented trying to figure out how to handle their conversation when she heard footfalls quickly approaching from behind carrying the scent of jasmine towards her. Lena appeared next to her slightly out of breath with flush cheeks. “Morning!”

Kara had never seen her so happy so close to having to complete physical activity. “Morning sunshine, what’s the hurry?” Kara inquired.

The two women continued to walk at a leisurely pace towards their bench they usually stretch next to While Lena attempted to pull off acting nonchalant while rubbing the back of her neck. “Oh, nothing. Just wanted to see how the rest of your Sunday was. I didn’t hear from you after work… did anything – happen out of the ordinary?”

Lena may have well have been wearing a neon sign that read “Did you get it?!”

Kara dramatically stroked her chin in thought. “Um, no, not really.” When she noticed Lena’s face drop in disappointment Kara immediately regretted her choice of navigating this conversation. In order to repair the damage she drew her finger in the air like she had a dawning realization. “I mean, if you don’t count the fact that you sent me a freaking mattress!” She playfully shoved Lena with this statement while Lena acted in mock hurt.

After a fit of laughter Lena cleared her throat. “So, we’re good? That wasn’t weird?”

Kara noted Lena’s insecurities bubbling under the surface. “We’re good Lena.” She reached out and squeezed her hand in reassurance and rushed out her next statement, “And yes to the weird question.” Lena scoffed at this and tried to playfully tug her hand away, but Kara didn’t relent and held tight as she leaned in close to whisper, “But I like weird.”

Lena ducked her head with an awkward giggle as the two continued to walk, neither one releasing their hand hold. She acted as if to say something, but seemed to stop herself.

“What is it?” Kara asked as she gripped Lena’s hand a bit tighter to coax her into a space of security.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just, I know I could have done something else, but when you said you were sleeping on an air mattress – it just sounded so temporary. I didn’t like it.”

Kara thought about her confession and suddenly Lena’s idea of payment made a lot more sense. Lena had divulged how glad she was to finally have a friend like Kara so the idea that that friend was sleeping on something meant only for a weekend trip would probably be unsettling. She didn’t send Kara a mattress, she sent her plea. _Stay here with me._ Turning something temporary into something more permanent.

Kara released her hand and turned so she could hug Lena’s side, essentially trapping Lena’s arms so all she could do was reach up and hold onto one of Kara’s own. “I’m not going anywhere, okay Lee?” Kara reassured.

Lena smiled at her new nickname and tilted her head to rest her temple on Kara’s forehead to get that much closer. “Good, I’m glad that’s settled.”

The women separated as they arrived at their bench. “Besides, I at least need to be here for your race.” Kara admitted to Lena.

She turned to Kara in confusion. “What race?”

“Oh, the 5k that the store is hosting. Did I not mention that I signed us both up so you can show off your sweet running skills?”

Lena spun towards Kara so quickly her long pony tail smacked her in the face. “You did what?!”

“Ready, go!” Kara took off down the path after flashing her brightest smile Lena’s way.

Lena yelled after her, “Kara Danvers, you come back here!”

Kara glanced back at Lena, her silhouette slowly decreasing in size due to the fact that she was definitely _not_ going back there. “You’re going to have to catch me, Lena Luthor!” She laughed and turned to start backpedaling waiting for Lena to take the bait.

Maybe it was Kara’s bubbly laughter that caught the words in midair, or it could have been the breeze carrying them away to rustle with the leaves of the surrounding trees. But if she had been paying closer attention, Kara would have heard Lena’s whispered response before the woman broke out into a run.

“I’m trying...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Game night with Alex/Maggie, Kara/Lena (maybe Winn/James?) is coming!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara has a dawning realization of self acceptance, meets Maggie and visits Lena at work...she's a busy lady.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to apologize! I did that thing I do where I get an idea (like game night) for a chapter and then when I go to write the intro I end up writing like 5,000 words before even getting to the main idea. But I promise it's coming next chapter!

Kara felt the crunch of rocks, leaves and dirt beneath her shoes as she swiftly ran through the narrow trails carved out before her. The morning air was starting to warm up, causing steam to whisper off of the still cold ground and foliage. She had decided to wake up early and take a solo run on the trails in a forest outside of the city. It had been ages since she had run by herself, especially in scenery as tranquil as her current surroundings and she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

When she was younger she discovered that going out running somewhere without anyone else around, only her and the world, helped give her space for her mind to open up. These runs were for untangling neglected thoughts and feelings that needed to be brought to the surface. Kara had gone on a lot of these in college when trying to navigate her feelings for Lucy, but then abruptly stopped when it just became easier to keep those thoughts and feelings where they lived. Shoved deep down in the crevices of her consciousness.

She was different now though. Well, not different, but wanted to acknowledge everything about herself rather than hide it from the world, and quite frankly herself.

Admitting to Alex her feelings for another woman seemed to be Kara peeking outside of the closet, not quite ready to emerge out of the comfortable shadows she had grown accustomed. But now…she felt ready to step out into the light.

She knew it was cliché to think of it this way, but it was like the puzzle of Kara Danvers had been almost complete, just one piece missing. Kara thought Mike had been that last piece, except no matter how hard she tried, he never quite made her feel that sense of wholeness her friends talked about with their boyfriends. But it turns out that the piece she kept trying to fit didn’t even belong to her own puzzle. The piece she was searching for was upside down and wedged in the corner of the puzzle box and only Kara could unearth it in order to complete her picture.

That last piece that she had been evading until now was that Kara Danvers was absolutely and unequivocally, gay. 

She slowed to a stop and rested her hands on her hips taking in deep breaths of crisp air. All she could hear were a scattering of birds chirping and some running water from a stream in the distance. Kara threw her hands in the air and yelled, “I’m gay!” feeling a relief wash over herself while a weight was lifted simultaneously as her confession echoed throughout the forest.

She continued to run, now with the feeling of flying past the trees and a smile playing on her lips. Kara felt giddy and she rode that feeling all the way to the end of the trail where she had parked her car. As she stood by her vehicle drinking water a bird landed next to her on the ground and bounced closer while staring. Kara wiped her mouth dry with the back of her hand and chatted with the animal, “Hey buddy, guess what?” The bird cocked his head to the side. “I’m gay,” she whispered. Her feathery friend chirped, almost as if in acknowledgement and then flew back into the undercover of the forest. 

Now to tell her sister.

* * *

The drive home seemed like it took ages. Kara’s knee was bouncing in excitement and anticipation of airing out her confession to Alex.

Kara threw the door open to the apartment not waiting to locate Alex before announcing, “I’m gay!”

She was met with a very confused woman leaning against the kitchen counter frozen in place with a bagel held several inches from her mouth and appearing to be mid-chew. “I’m Maggie?”

Kara’s eyes grew wide in panic. “Oh my God, I’m not gay. I mean – I am gay, but that’s not my name. That would be a weird name right?” She was laughing nervously with her eyes darting around the apartment searching for her sister to rescue her. 

The other woman chuckled and pushed off of the counter to walk over and hold out her hand. “Based on what your sister has told me about you, you must be Kara. I’m Maggie, I work with Alex.” Maggie then leaned in and whispered, “I’m gay too,” in what Kara interpreted as her way of trying to alleviate some of the embarrassment radiating off of her at the moment. Maggie smiled waiting expectantly for Kara to shake her hand, but was met with a very aggressive hug instead.

“Alex has told me so much about you! It’s so nice to meet you.” Kara squeezed Maggie while the other woman was thrown off guard and was attempting to remain upright. 

“Yup, you’re definitely Kara,” Maggie rasped out as she attempted to breathe through a Danvers hug.

Kara released her then. “Sorry, we’re a hugging family.”

“So it seems.” Maggie laughed and pointed to the door. “Alex just went out to grab some more bagels from the corner store, she should be back –”

At that moment Alex arrived in the doorway clutching a brown paper bag. She was mumbling about how they only had sesame when she halted in her movements upon seeing her love interest and sister standing together for the first time, Kara bouncing on her heels in excitement and Maggie shrugging her shoulders as if to say, “I guess this is happening.”

“Kara! You’re back early, I thought you said you were going for a long run?” Alex was looking from Kara to Maggie trying to interpret the situation.

“I was! But, umm, I ended up cutting it short because I wanted to – to tell you something…”

Maggie’s eyes lit up in recognition. “On that note, I will leave you two lovely ladies to discuss.” She pointed to Alex’s room. “I’ll just enjoy my breakfast in bed,” she said as she walked over to the room, but not before leaning into Kara’s side and whispering, “You got this little Danvers.”

Kara liked her.

The door shut softly behind Maggie leaving the two sisters standing by the front door. Alex turned to Kara, concern etched on her face. “What did you need to tell me?”

Kara started pacing back and forth as Alex closed the door and set the bag of bagels down in the kitchen.

“I know I told you already about what happened with Lucy, you know, in college? With my feelings and I haven’t really dated since..” Kara continued to pace and not make eye contact. “Well I’ve been thinking, like a lot, about everything and what I want.” She was now hopping back and forth on each foot, not able to keep still until Alex walked over and grabbed her shoulders to silence her body. Kara met her eyes and saw a calm understanding directed towards her.

“I’m gay,” Kara stated with reverence.

Alex smiled and moved her hands to cup Kara’s cheeks. “I feel like we already had the big emotional discussion, so I won’t do that to you again. But I will say thank you for telling me and I love you.” She then pulled Kara into a tight hug lasting just a little bit longer than their typical sisterly embraces. They pulled away and Alex rested her hands on Kara’s shoulders. “Are there any other important life announcements you’d like to share?”

Kara looked guilty and quickly rambled out another confession. “I slept in Lena’s bed with her at the sleepover and we cuddled!”

Alex gasped in shock and excitement while raising her hands in the air. “I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” She called out excitedly, “Maggie! You owe me 10 dollars!”

It was Kara’s turn to gasp. “You guys were betting on me?!”

Alex went to unpack the fresh bagels. “To be fair, I was the one betting that you _would_ get some.”

Kara scoffed. “Alex! I didn’t “get some”. We just cuddled and spooned a bit. I hardly think that counts. We’re just friends still.”

Maggie returned from Alex’s bedroom. “Well as I recall, Alex and I were “just friends” at one point as well.” She stood next to Alex and wrapped her arm around the other woman as she gave her a quick peck on the cheek, resulting in Alex forming a dopey grin.

“You guys are disgustingly adorable.” Kara deadpanned.

“We know,” Maggie stated proudly. “Do you want to be disgustingly adorable with your mattress fairy you cuddled with?”

Kara could tell it was a genuine question by the earnest look on Maggie’s face. And the truth of the matter was, yes. She absolutely wanted to have what Alex seemed to have with Maggie, but with Lena. The only issue was her underlying fear that was extremely persistent in making her believe that being friends was her only option. Taking that chance to make it anything more would mean the risk of losing her altogether… and that was a thought she couldn’t fathom right now.

Kara sheepishly made her way over to the counter and accepted a bagel from Alex. “I mean yeah, but what if she doesn’t want to be disgustingly adorable with _me_?”

Maggie and Alex then looked at Kara like she was the last puppy of the litter waiting to be adopted at a shelter. “I don’t like what’s happening with your faces right now.” Kara motioned to both of their expressions and picked at her bagel.

Alex cleared her throat. “Okay, so the issue seems to be you don’t know if Lena is interested in you as more than a friend, right?”

Kara thought on this and nodded her head in response.

“Well, why don’t we have her over! We can have a game night or dinner with me and Maggie and you and Lena,” Alex reasoned. 

Maggie chimed in, “I mean, I’m a detective and Alex works for the FBI…it would be pretty sad if we can’t give you a definitive answer.”

This actually wasn’t the worst plan ever. When she had confessed her feelings to Lucy it was kind of like jumping off of a cliff into the unknown. She hadn’t told anyone about it or had any inkling regarding Lucy’s feelings beforehand. Now she had her sister and Maggie to help her navigate this whole situation.

Kara shoved the remainder of her bagel in her mouth as she considered their proposal. “Yeah, okay. This could be good.”

Alex and Maggie high-fived in celebration and Kara smiled at the two women. “I like her.” Kara pointed to Maggie, but was directing her comment to Alex, who then grinned only to look at Maggie.

“Yeah, I like her too.” 

She then motioned to Kara’s feet. “I also like clean floors.” Kara looked down and in her haste to divulge her revelation to Alex she hadn’t noticed that during her run this morning mud had flung up on her legs and her shoes were caked in it, now leaving footprints throughout the apartment.

“Oops. I’ll just…” Kara threw her shoes by the door and ran to the shower as she yelled behind her, “Nice to meet you Maggie!”

* * *

Kara had contemplated on how to invite Lena to game night when getting ready for the day. It was the middle of the week, but today was her day off so she was left to her own devices after Alex and Maggie left for work. She had ultimately decided on inviting her in-person, partly because she wanted to see where Lena worked and also partly because she missed her. It had been a week and a half since Kara had last seen Lena, at their run in the park. After that Lena had been completely engrossed with a project at work and unable to get away, even for a morning workout. Since then, Kara had been surviving on sparingly responded to text messages riddled with apologies for taking so long to reply to said text messages.

This was why she was currently standing downtown outside of the L-Corp building gripping a bag of food that Lena would hopefully have time to eat with her during lunch. She had chosen to forego her usual workout clothing attire and wear something she imagined was more appropriate for corporate America. Her interpretation of that was dark blue chino pants held with a skinny brown belt and a tucked in white button down with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Not to mention her new brown oxfords she was currently obsessed with…because shoes, am I right?

She craned her neck as far back as it would go looking upwards, imagining that Lena was in charge of this entire building. It was a very daunting thought to think that the woman she was dancing on a coffee table with not too long ago held the responsibility of this entire building. She inhaled deeply preparing for the unknown and pushed through the front doors.

After being scanned through security and redirected to the top floor (because of course she lives and works on top floors of buildings), Kara was emerging from the elevator to a lobby of sorts with a desk set up outside large opaque glass doors. A woman was seated at the desk and was frantically typing away at her computer so much so that she didn’t notice Kara approaching.

Kara cleared her throat, but the woman still didn’t look up. “Umm, hi, I was wondering if I could see Le--, er…Ms. Luthor?”

Her eyes were still glued to the computer screen as she asked, “Do you have an appointment?”

“Oh, um, no. But, I was hoping I could just –”

“Unfortunately, Ms. Luthor is booked for the day. You can make an appointment and come back later in the week.” The woman finally spared a glance from her work to scan over Kara with a look of disbelief. “Oh,” she whispered to herself.

Kara didn’t really know how to react to that so she just smiled wider and clutched her bag of food with anxious hands.

“My apologies, I’m Jess, Ms. Luthor’s assistant. Let me see what I can do.” Jess then went to work on her keyboard like a pianist at a concert hall, clacking away and analyzing the information presented in front of her. “Right, there we go! She has the next hour free, for lunch I’m assuming?” She glanced at the bag Kara was now hugging to the front of her body.

Kara wondered what had changed, but she wasn’t going to question her good fortune. “Yep! Thank you Jess.”

Jess leaned in towards Kara and pointed to the large double doors. “I should really be thanking you, I have to twist that one’s arm to get her to take a break to eat.”

Kara chuckled at the assistant’s honesty and waved goodbye to her as she was buzzed in. She opened one of the large doors and couldn’t believe the size of the office she walked in on. There was a couch on the wall to the far left with a coffee table, a vast expanse of space in the middle and then on the far right was a large desk with plate windows (much like the ones in Lena’s apartment) lining the wall behind. Inside this immense office, there was a lone woman standing in front of the windows with arms crossed seeming to admire the view. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that formed to her curves with a deep red blouse expertly tucked in and a tight high pony tail…not to mention killer heels.

“Good Morning Mr. Janson.” The woman greeted with a professional tone.

Kara made her way over to stand in front of the large desk before saying, “Try again?”

Lena swiveled around at hearing Kara’s voice and smiled in bewilderment. “Kara! You’re here, and not a misogynistic business man?”

Kara looked down at herself. “Nope, not last time I checked at least.”

The two women laughed at that. “I talked to Jess outside, she said you had the next hour free?”

Lena looked towards where her assistant would be sitting outside of her office doors. “Of course she did.”

Kara felt like she was intruding because this was definitely not the same as Lena visiting Kara at work. “I know I should have texted or called first, I just wanted to surprise you I guess? Which seemed like a good idea in my head, but now it just seems --.”

Lena cut her off mid-ramble. “It’s fine Kara, I’m glad you’re here. I would much rather meet with you than Mr. Janson. Would you like to sit?” Lena motioned to the couch on the other side of the office.

Kara nodded and walked over to sit down and place the bag of food on the coffee table.

Lena sat next to her and crossed her legs, only to think better of it a second later and remove her stiletto heels to tuck both of her legs underneath of herself. It seemed she wasn’t used to being informal in her work environment and was navigating what that looked like.

Kara approved.

Kara was so busy admiring the rest of Lena’s office with her numerous degrees framed and displayed on the wall that she didn’t notice that the woman sitting across from her was blatantly raking her eyes up and down her form.

“I – like your outfit Kara.”

Kara looked down at herself once again. “Oh, yeah, this is actually my outfit I bought for job interviews. I thought it was more appropriate for L-Corp than running shoes, tights and a hoodie.”

“I’d say so, but just for the record you’re welcome in any attire,” Lena clarified. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today?” Lena had now propped her elbow on the back of the couch and was resting her head in her hand, looking more comfortable lounging in her business formal clothing.

“I – uhh—brought lunch!” Kara grabbed the bag from where she had set it down and opened it up to reveal a stack of to-go containers. “You’ve brought me donuts at work, so I figured it was only fair to bring you something as well.”

The women opened up the containers to uncover mounds of breakfast food, making Lena break out in laughter. 

Kara smiled bashfully. “I know you at least like bacon and eggs, so I got that as well as pancakes, waffles and some biscuits and toast…I figured we could share if that’s okay?”

Lena smiled wide. “Of course, this is lovely Kara. Thank you.”

Kara sighed in relief. “Great! Well, let’s dig in then!”

The two women served themselves on paper plates Kara had brought along and started to eat. Kara was practically shoveling food in her mouth because by her logic if her mouth was busy chewing it meant that she had an excuse not to ask Lena about game night. What if she said no? What if she said yes and then Alex and Maggie use their sleuthing to determine Lena just wants to be friends? It had been kind of nice living in this realm of possibility that Lena could have feelings for her, even if Kara was too scared to do anything about it…

“You’re certainly hungry today.” Lena had stopped eating her pancakes to observe Kara cleaning her plate a second time.

Kara smiled in embarrassment. “Yeah, sorry. I should save you some.”

Lena held her hands up. “Oh, no. Don’t stop on my accord; I’m just impressed is all.”

Kara put her plate down in front of her and stood up from the couch. “Do you mind if I look around? I’ve never been in a CEO’s office before.” 

“By all means, go forth and explore.”

She wandered over to a bookshelf lining the opposite wall and found it housed massively large books pertaining to various sciences. 

Lena’s voice carried over from the couch. “You said you got that outfit for interviews, yeah? What kind of job were you looking for?”

Kara continued to putz around the office, but turned to answer Lena’s question, “I have a degree in journalism, so anything in the area of being a reporter.” Kara knitted her brows. “Have I never talked about that?” Asking herself more than Lena. She thought back to the conversations they’ve had together and she’s definitely talked about college, but Kara couldn’t recall ever discussing why she even moved to National City, AKA, not being able to find a job in her area of study. 

In reality it was probably because she had been embarrassed, especially explaining this to the formal business woman Kara had once known Lena to be, rather than the woman who does air guitar and hugs teddy bears. 

It seemed like a good topic to ruminate on during her next forest run.

“Anyway, I never even got to wear this because I couldn’t even get an interview anywhere.”

Lena appeared thoughtful as she finished the last bite of her pancake. “You know, I happen to be personal friends with Cat Grant. Are you familiar?”

Kara scoffed at this comment. “Umm, yeah?! Of course I know who she is! Just the head of CatCo Magazine. Not to mention the biggest ball buster in the city.”

Lena chuckled. “And here I was thinking I held that title. If you wanted I could get you an interview?” 

Kara shook her hands in front of her in detest. “Oh no, I can’t let you do that. I don’t want you going out of your way or anything.” 

Lena replaced her heels before standing up to follow Kara’s progress in her office. “It would be no problem Kara, just say the word and I’ll reach out.” She arrived next to Kara and rested her hand on Kara’s upper back. “I’m not the only one that deserves the world, you know?”

_Gay panic._

“Speaking of the world, look at this view!” Kara was very much still anxious and having Lena in such close proximity was definitely not helping her train of thought. She briskly walked to the far windows located behind Lena’s desk and made sure to act as if she just had to see every single angle by constantly being on the move. You can’t cozy up to someone who can’t keep still, right? The only problem was when she turned to see if Lena had followed her she found something on her desk that made Kara skid to a stop. 

There, amongst the files and papers strewn across her desk, was a lone framed picture. It was of Kara and Lena from the morning after their sleepover, both women exuding pure joy with a dash of bedhead. Seeing the picture immediately calmed Kara’s nerves. She walked over to the desk and plucked it from where it was displayed to hold it like a security blanket, feeling the tangible evidence that Lena was always going to be there with Kara.

She tore her eyes away to find a nervous Lena standing in front of her. “I had Jess print it and frame it for me. I just like looking at it when I’ve had a long day, you know?” Lena paused, waiting for Kara to react, but Kara was at a loss for words.

“Good or weird?” Lena questioned.

This brought Kara back to life and she smiled as she returned the fame to its original resting place. “Good, Lee.” 

“Yeah?” Lena was fiddling with her watch strap, a tell Kara had learned to mean she was still nervous.

Kara reached out, like she had so many times before, and squeezed Lena’s hand in comfort. “Of course.” She nodded in thought. “It also kind of explains why Jess let me into this fortress, no questions asked.”

Lena nodded knowingly. “I may talk about you with her…just a tiny bit.” She scrunched her nose and held up her unoccupied hand holding a small space between her thumb and index finger.

Kara felt it again. That wave of feeling content, like everything was right with the world as long as the woman in front of her kept holding her hand. So naturally she felt the need to blurt out, “Will you come to game night with me?!”

“Game night?” Lena appeared taken aback by the sudden change in conversation topic.

Shit, Kara really needed to work on her delivery. She released Lena’s hand and started pacing, because that’s apparently what she does now. “Yeah! Alex and I want to have a game night so she’s inviting her girlfriend and I need to invite someone – soooo, I’m inviting you!”

Kara noticed Lena smile from a glance she stole while wearing a hole in Lena’s office floor. “I would be honored to attend a Danvers game night,” Lena responded.

She froze mid-pace and grinned in response only to start internally freaking out. Lena said yes! She’s coming to game night. She’s coming to game night at her and Alex’s apartment. When was the last time she had cleaned?

“Cool, great, awesome!”

Lena laughed at her reply. “It will be all of those things. However, I do feel like I should tell you…I’m very competitive.” Lena’s voice had dropped an octave and there was a gleam in her eyes that made Kara want to melt into the floor and her legs turn to jelly all at once.

Kara chuckled nervously and went to lean her hand against Lena’s desk for support, lest she collapse, but misjudged the distance only to catch herself on a file folder and slide further until it flung off of the desk resulting in Kara falling as papers rained down in the office.

“Shit, shit, shit.” The clumsy woman was trying to gather the papers that had now scattered across the floor. “I’m so sorry Lena, I don’t know what happened, I just –”

Pale hands stilled Kara’s movements as they rested on top of frantic ones. She looked up into those emerald eyes holding concern with a hint of amusement. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I was done with all of this anyway, it just needs to get filed away in storage. Not a big deal.”

Kara stood up trying to at least organize the papers she had managed to collect in her arms when Lena made a choking noise forcing Kara to look up. “Um, Kara, your shirt…”

She looked down and realized that at some point during her fall her two top shirt buttons had managed to pop open, effectively revealing far more cleavage than she had originally intended (which was already more than usual if she was being honest).

Kara wanted to melt into the floor again but for a very different reason. “Oh my God, sorry. Ughh okay. Lemme just…” For some reason her brain had stopped working. She needed to fix her shirt, but she had papers in her hands she also needed to fix and her body couldn’t figure out how to do both. 

Just when Kara was about to burst into tears of sheer embarrassment and confusion, she felt Lena’s presence close in front of her. Slow hands approached her again, reaching to grab the pile of disheveled papers and place them back on the desk. Instead of them returning to Lena’s side they reached up again, even slower this time as Lena cleared her throat. “May I?”

Kara looked down and saw slender fingers trembling slightly just inches away from her newly revealed skin. She gulped down desperately needed air before nodding her head ever so slightly, too scared to make any sudden movements. Lena’s hands continued their original path and gently joined both sides of Kara’s shirt, nimble fingers refastening the buttons that had betrayed Kara.

She felt Lena’s breath hitch as she accidentally grazed the exposed skin of her chest and Kara’s insides immediately felt like they had been lit ablaze. God, if this is how she was reacting to this woman putting her clothes on, she couldn’t even imagine how she would respond to Lena taking them off.

Well, she could, but that was for another time.

Lena finished her work and straightened Kara’s collar for good measure. “There, good as new,” she whispered due to their close proximity.

“Umm, thanks.” Kara looked around at the mess still strewn around their feet. “Do you think…can I please help clean up?”

Lena shook her head with a smirk. “Sure Kara, if that will make you feel better.”

The women went to work gathering the opened file folders and papers with Lena organizing as they went until the last piece was filed away. Once Lena’s office was back in working order, Kara decided to take her leave, since there was really no coming back after that whole fiasco. She gathered the take away boxes to dispose of and met Lena at the office doors.

“So was that your most eventful lunch this week?” Kara asked.

“I think that was my most eventful lunch all year.”

Both women laughed at that.

“So I’ll see you this weekend? I’ll text you the details.” Kara confirmed.

“Sounds good, Kara. I wouldn’t miss it.” Lena’s words were framed with softness.

Kara paused at the door and before she left she asked, “Are you still glad that I wasn’t Mr. Janson?”

Lena formed a genuine smile reaching her eyes. “You have no idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Game night next! (I promise)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Game night is (finally) happening!

Kara eased her arm into the soft blue and green flannel she had chosen to wear for the night with her black skinny jeans. As she fastened the buttons she ran through a checklist in her head to make sure she had done everything.

Clean apartment, check.

Shower and do make up, check.

Buy an inordinate amount of food and booze, double check.

She felt good, confident even, which was a nice change of pace when compared to the anxiety that spiked during the shit show that was her visit to L-Corp earlier in the week. When Alex had gotten back from work that night she had Maggie in tow and Kara practically tripped over herself when running up to them in order to divulge what had happened and alleviate some of her nervousness.

After some not-so-well-hidden giggles on the older women’s end when Kara described her run-in with Lena’s desk, they sat her down and gave a much needed pep talk. They stressed how beautiful, caring, intelligent and kind she was and that she wouldn’t be alone during game night. Maggie and Alex also mentioned how Kara would have home court advantage now since Lena would be coming to _her_ apartment so she could feel that sense of comfort. They then spouted off some other inspirational sports analogies because, let’s get real, it was a room full of gay women.

Kara finished with the buttons on her shirt and gave an experimental tug for good measure to ensure there wouldn’t be any more unexpected clothing malfunctions. After her shirt passed the test, exposing enough cleavage to Kara’s liking, she stared at herself in the mirror on the back of her bedroom door. Kara had been in National City for a of couple months now and felt like she had grown so much already. She really and truly loved who she was as a whole person, and she didn’t know if she could really say that honestly before now. It made her feel like she was glowing as she whispered to herself, “You got this Danvers.” 

She opened the door and wandered out into the main living space to find Alex and Maggie on the couch chatting comfortably. Maggie had arrived an hour earlier than they had told Lena to arrive so they would have time to “strategize”, whatever that meant…Kara still wasn’t sure. They turned to face Kara and immediately started to wolf whistle and cat call her, “Damnnn girl! Can I get your numberrr?!”

Kara chose to go with it since she was riding her confidence high and flexed her biceps dramatically, which caused the room to erupt in laughter.

“You feel as good as you look, little Danvers?” Maggie questioned as Alex got up to get another drink.

“I do actually.” Kara took a seat on the chair across from the couch and smiled. “Thank you guys again for doing this. Just please, don’t interrogate her?”

Alex appeared from the kitchen with a fresh drink and sat next to Maggie. “I will make no such promise.” This earned a death stare from her girlfriend resulting in Alex holding her hands up in defeat. “Fine! No interrogations!”

As the couple’s laughter died out Kara thought she heard something from the hallway outside the apartment. She got up from her chair and padded over in her bare feet to the door and stopped, holding her breath to hear better. Sure enough, she could hear muffled words and someone pacing outside. Kara tentatively opened the door and peered out to find a woman with her back turned talking…to no one.

“I’m Lena Luthor, it’s nice to meet you. No, no, no, that’s too formal. I’m Lena, your apartment is lovely—Yeah, that’s better.”

Kara couldn’t help but chuckle to herself at the site before her, only to cause the woman in the hall to spin on her heels in alarm.

God she was beautiful. Her hair was styled in soft waves that brushed her face from her sharp movement and she looked to have come straight from work as she wore a form fitting maroon suit underneath a long black pea coat. Both of her hands were currently occupied with wine bottles that she grasped with anxious force making her knuckles to ghostly white.

“Kara,” Lena breathlessly exhaled her name in surprise. She blew out a puff of air and hung her head in embarrassment. “I really should stop doing this in public places.”

The blonde in the doorway wore a smile and shook her head. “But then I would be deprived of walking in on you being, frankly adorable.” 

Lena’s head shot up at that comment and she returned Kara’s smile. “Well then, who am I to take that away from you?”

Wait, were they flirting? If they were, Kara was here for it.

She stepped out into the hall to approach her friend and take the wine bottles from her just to set them on the ground. “Hi Lena,” she greeted as she slid her arms around a soft waist and pressed a warm cheek to one still chilled from the night air. Lena tensed at first, seeming to not expect this kind of reception, but instantly copied Kara’s motions by wrapping her arms around strong shoulders. “Hi yourself,” she whispered in Kara’s ear.

They seemed to stay like that for some time, neither one wanting to leave the embrace until there was an audible cough coming from the open doorway causing them to break apart in search of the source.

Alex was standing at the entrance to the apartment and gave a little wave while Maggie appeared next to her smiling. “Were we not invited to the hallway party?” Maggie jokingly asked.

Lena cleared her throat. “My apologies.” She approached the older women and held out her hand as she introduced herself, “I’m Lena, it’s lovely to meet you both.”

Alex and Maggie accepted the formal greeting with firm handshakes that Lena was able to match grip for grip, which left the women of law enforcement with impressed expressions.

Kara eyed the interaction as she picked up the wine from the floor. “Lena brought wine!”

Alex observed Lena’s outfit. “I see she also brought her formal wear.” 

This comment earned Alex an elbow in the ribs from her girlfriend and a look that said, _behave!_

Lena took the comment in stride. “Yeah, unfortunately work ran late and I had to come straight from the office.”

Maggie chimed in, “Kara, why don’t you get Lena some more game night appropriate attire to change into?” She threw in an encouraging smile in Kara’s direction.

This must be what they meant by “strategizing”.

Everyone headed inside the apartment after that, with Maggie and Alex returning to the couch while Lena and Kara went to Kara’s bedroom. This was the first time anyone besides herself or Alex had set foot in her room and she suddenly felt a sense of vulnerability as Lena gravitated towards the pictures hung up on the wall. 

Kara followed Lena’s path and saw her smiling while admiring the photographs of her friends from college and the young Danvers sisters. She saw the green eyes darting around the wall, seeming to be searching for something until her smile faltered the smallest amount before she turned to Kara. “These are lovely, you were very cute as a little one.”

“I was yes, but I think I’m much cuter in this picture.” Kara pulled out her phone from her back pocket and opened the lock screen to reveal the silly one they had taken the morning after their sleepover. “I haven’t had a chance to add this gem to the wall yet.”

Lena’s smile returned in full force. “Oh geez, do you show people this picture of us Kara?”

“Only my sister…and Maggie. And, well, Winn and my boss. There was also that customer that asked for the time and then there was--.”

Lena cut her off. “You know what, never mind. I’ll just accept that the whole of National City will see my bedhead.”

Kara grinned as she closed her phone screen and replaced it in her pocket. “That’s probably for the best, to be honest.”

She turned then to the closet in search of clothes for Lena. Kara pulled out some stretchy black tights with a track t-shirt and the long cardigan she had definitely not stolen (cough, cough) from the sleepover.

Kara gave a disclaimer as she handed over the garments, “I may have accidentally worn this home the other week.”

Lena laughed and looked up at Kara. “A likely story…but I guess it’s only fair seeing as I’m still holding your hoodie hostage.”

There was a pause as Lena held the casual clothing and Kara just stared in a trance realizing that Lena will be taking her clothes off in her room. 

“Umm, right. I’ll just leave you to get changed then. Holler if you need anything.” Kara turned to leave, but felt a soft grasp on her wrist making her turn back to face an uneasy Lena. “Is everything okay, Lena?” Kara questioned.

She observed the woman across from her start to fumble her words. “Yes, it’s just, I wanted to tell you that I’m glad things have gone back to, you know, normal I guess?” Lena shifted uncomfortably in her spot. “I was really happy when you visited me at work, God knows I needed it. But you were just acting, I don’t know, different I guess? I just didn’t know if you were mad at me for being so absent recently…”

Kara internally chastised herself for being so spastic that day as she ran her hands through her hair feeling guilty that Lena thought she had done something to warrant the hot mess that Kara was in that office. “I’m really sorry about that, I just had a lot on my mind that day I guess. It had nothing to do with you, and while I wasn’t stoked to be deprived of my best friend for so long, I was never mad at you.” She directed a smile towards Lena and noticed that the uneasy expression was now replaced with one filled with childlike wonder.

“Best friend?” Lena bit her lower lip and hugged the newly acquired clothing to her chest.

Kara shrugged her shoulders like she hadn’t just said two words that seemingly altered Lena’s world axis. “Well, yeah silly. I don’t deliver breakfast food to just anyone, you know.” 

Lena nodded while a smile spread wide across her face highlighting the crinkles next to her impossibly eyes that now held a sparkle. She spoke words barely above a whisper, “You’re my best friend too.”

After a moment of held eye contact acknowledging the words they had recently projected into the universe, Kara cleared her throat and moved towards the door. “Right! Well, you better get changed so we can get started with kicking my sister’s butt in charades.”

As Kara closed the door, the last sliver of Lena she saw was of her hugging the pile of clothes tight and smiling to herself.

Kara’s chest felt warm.

“Did you guys make out in there, or what?” Alex asked dryly right as her younger sister had closed the door.

Kara nearly fell over herself as she spun around to face the direction the comment came from and whisper-screamed (if that was possible), “OH MY GOD! ALEX! What if she heard you?!”

Alex looked unaffected by Kara’s worry until Maggie turned to her. “Alex, if you don’t stop harassing your sister then I don’t think we’ll be able to…” Maggie then leaned in to Alex’s ear to whisper something that made her eyes widen in horror. Maggie pulled back and finished her statement for Kara to hear, “…later tonight.”

“I’ll be good! I’ll be good!” Alex relented.

Kara looked between the women on her couch with an expression of relief and slight aversion thinking of what was being used as leverage to elicit good behavior from her older sister. “I don’t know how I feel about what just happened here, but thank you Maggie.”

The smaller woman on the couch shot Kara a finger gun right as the bedroom door opened revealing a much more comfortably dressed Lena, which had the Kara staring because of course casual Lena was just as distracting as work attire Lena. 

A clap of Maggie’s hands brought Kara out of her trance. “Welp kids, I’d say it’s time for some games, don’t you?”

* * *

They were losing…badly. It turns out Lena wasn’t on the up and up regarding pop culture so any celebrity or movie (which are main categories in charades) were pretty much lost on her. That was why Kara was currently making a fool of herself in the middle of the living room while Lena looked on in confusion. 

The timer on the coffee table dwindled down until the last grain of sand fell, resulting in cheers and groans erupting from the couch. Kara looked over and saw her sister and girlfriend hugging each other, as they had just won, and Lena with her face in her hands in frustration. She walked over and cleared off the area on the coffee table in front of Lena and sat down facing her.

“What was it this time?” Lena questioned as her muffled voice filtered through slender fingers. 

“American Pie…”

Lena peered over the edges of her fingertips. “Sorry I’m so lame.”

Kara gave Lena’s knee some comforting pats as she stated, “Not Lame, just--,” Kara tilted her head in thought, “--selectively educated?”

This earned a snicker from the woman on the couch as Kara pried those hands away so she could view Lena’s now bashful expression and returned her own to their resting place on Lena’s knee. “There you go again, turning on that Danvers charm.”

Kara grinned proudly as she now ran her thumb in circles on Lena’s knee. “What can I say? I try to stay on brand.” 

Lena smiled back with her eyes flicking down to her knee and back up to Kara’s gaze. “No complaints here.” She continued to stare at Kara with a look the blonde couldn’t quite decipher. “Do you mind? You just have—” Lena reached out with confidence to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear with her finger grazing Kara’s ever reddening cheek. “There. Perfect.”

Kara ducked her head as Lena pulled her hand away and suggested they go to the kitchen to restock on snacks and drinks. As Kara turned her attention towards the pile of sustenance on the counter she noticed Alex and Maggie eyeing herself and Lena while whispering to each other. Kara thought they must be having a field day interpreting what just happened between her and Lena…she had to keep reminding herself that she asked for this.

They wandered over to join her sister and Maggie. Kara offered to refresh their drinks at the far drink cart, which then left Lena to the wolves making up a snack plate to share per Kara’s suggestion. Maggie offered an encouraging smile while Alex leaned her hip against the kitchen counter eying Lena apprehensively.

“You should try the dip, it’s vegan if you have any dietary restrictions, “ Maggie offered.

Lena smiled graciously, “I don’t, but I’m always looking for healthy options. Thank you.” She took the plate and started spooning on the recommended food as Alex perked up and questioned, “So my sister has been spending a lot of time with you.” It was a statement, but Alex was waiting for a comment in return. 

“Yeah, she’s been helping me get in shape.” If Lena was nervous, the only tell was that she was keeping her hands busy with placing more and more items on her plate of food. “Not to mention that she is just lovely to spend time with.”

Kara returned to the group with two full glasses in her hands. “Yes Alex, I’m just lovely.” She handed one of the glasses to Lena and subconsciously leaned against the warm body next to her as she stuck her tongue out at her sister.

“If you’re planning on sticking around, you should probably get used to this,” Maggie offered to Lena as she motioned to the two sisters.

Lena chuckled as she closed the gap between her and Kara’s sides even further, glancing to the woman next to her. “I guess I should grow accustomed to it then.”

Kara could feel the physical warmth from Lena’s body seemingly spread further into her own at hearing that comment and she couldn’t help but show a dopey looking grin as she tucked her head on Lena’s temple.

She glanced at Alex who also shared a smile of her own in understanding at what Kara sees in this amazing woman while Maggie was trying to discreetly, “Awwww” to Alex.

Then Kara broke the moment when she looked down at the counter. “Ew, Lena, why did you put that dip on our plate?

* * *

Alex plopped down on the couch and placed her arm around Maggie with a drink in her free hand. “Alright kids, what game do you want to get your butts kicked in next?”

Kara crossed her arms in indignation at the comment while Lena let out a sigh as she was putting her finishing touches on their shared snack plate (which included separating the dip from Kara’s potstickers so as to not “contaminate good food”).

Kara eyed their game collection they had pulled out on the coffee table and carefully considered her options until her eyes finally landed on one that elicited a smirk. “How about Jenga?”

Everyone settled in the living room with the older women on the couch as Kara and Lena stared at the arm chair and back to each other again. Their seating arrangement had been easy to figure out for charades since three people would sit on the couch while one person would be performing. But somehow, Maggie and Alex had decided to man-spread their bodies and leave absolutely no room for another person…suspiciously.

“You sit in the chair and I’ll just sit on the armrest?” Kara offered.

Lena seemed skeptical at this suggestion, but agreed nonetheless as she sat and patted the armrest to her left for Kara to get comfortable. She eased herself down onto the higher vantage point and she quickly felt a familiar warmth on her lower back. Lena had placed her hand there, seemingly to help Kara support herself even though her six pack ab muscles were fully capable of keeping her upright in this position. 

Kara wasn’t going to say anything about that though.

“So how do we play this?” Lena questioned as the others were methodically setting up the wooden pieces into a perfect tower in the middle of the coffee table.

“It’s pretty simple really, you just take turns removing pieces and placing them on top of the tower. The person that knocks it over loses,” Kara offered.

“But you can’t take pieces from the top two rows,” Alex added, always being the stickler for the rules.

Lena nodded in understanding and tried to hide a smile as her and Kara looked at each other in recognition. 

Someone in that apartment had degrees in physics and engineering. Someone also had worked in the labs at L-Corp requiring focused dexterity when working on projects.

“So you’ve never played this game either?” Alex questioned as she smiled with self-assurance. “We’ll take it easy on you.”

“Don’t change how you play on my accord,” Lena leaned forward analyzing the configuration before her. “I like a fair match.”

* * *

_Crash!_

Wooden planks tumbled onto the table and spread onto the floor below as Alex groaned in agony. “It must be rigged!” Alex protested as she glared at the piece in her hand that was responsible for the mess in front of everyone.

Kara had lost two times, Maggie three, Lena zero and Alex…six.

Maggie rubbed soothing circles on her girlfriend’s back. “It’s okay sweetie, maybe this just isn’t your game.”

Alex just grumbled and started setting the pieces back up for another round, much to everyone’s chagrin. Kara gave a look to Maggie saying, _Help!_

Maggie reached out to still Alex’s hand. “Why don’t we call it night? We can leave these two to hang out a bit, yeah?”

Alex was now using her free hand to continue piecing the structure back together with deep concentration. “Just one more game.”

Her girlfriend emitted a suggestive cough. “And by call it a night I mean,” Maggie leaned in closer to whisper, “Go to _bed_.”

This seemed to grip Alex’s attention and caused her to finally tear her gaze away from her work on the coffee table and refocus on the woman next to her. She turned to Lena and Kara across the ways. “Welp, it was nice to meet you Lena. G’night Kara!” Alex then playfully tugged Maggie towards her bedroom as the smaller woman waved goodnight.

The bedroom door shut and left Kara and Lena alone in the living room. “Sorry about that…they’re still going through their honeymoon phase.” As soon as the words left her mouth there was a loud bang and then the sound of giggling coming from the newly closed door.

Kara gave an apologetic look as Lena raised an eyebrow. “We should go to my room probably…”

They decided to leave the mess in the apartment for the next morning, seeing as there wasn’t food left out to spoil (because Kara had taken care of that with her appetite) and go straight to Kara’s room to avoid any further noisy interruptions.

Kara closed the door behind her and felt her nerves start a fire in her belly…or was that the jalapeño poppers? It was probably both if she was being honest.

“Should we, um, sit on your bed?” Lena also seemed anxious, which made Kara feel better that she wasn’t alone in this.

She took a steading breath. “Sure, I actually have one more game for us to play, if you’re up for it?”

Lena sat cross legged near the head of the bed next to Benji as she regarded Kara skeptically. “I’ll consider it, what were you thinking?”

Kara kneeled down beside her bed which was thankfully resting on a new bedframe she had picked up from Ikea earlier in the week. Having a new mattress had been awesome, but she wasn’t in college anymore so she felt the need to not sleep on the floor anymore…also, spiders.

She reached underneath and pulled out a long rectangular box with black and red checkers on it. “So I know this was your and your Dad’s thing, so I completely get if you want to keep it that way,“ Kara started to ramble as she handed the box to Lena and sat across from her on the bed.

Lena gingerly accepted the box to place it on Kara’s duvet. She grasped either side and lifted a bit to let the bottom slowly slide out and reveal a folded board with black and white game pieces.

Kara continued, “But I saw that your chess set at your place had dust on it, and I thought maybe you might like to play with someone?”

Lena unearthed the board to open it as it emitted fresh creaks, announcing its first time use. She glided her hand across the smooth surface with intense focus as it was positioned between herself and Kara.

“And I know this set is definitely not as fancy as yours, but I thought maybe you could teach me and we could play together? I’ve watched some videos online and read some tutorials, but It’s sort of complicated…”

Lena reached out and took a white knight, running her fingers along the hard plastic ridges appreciatively while showing the faintest of smiles and her eyes glistening.

“Lena?” Kara was growing alarmed at the silence that was present from the other side of the chess board.

Finally, Lena cleared her throat and placed the knight down. “White or black?”

“Hm?” Kara tilted her head to the side on confusion.

“Do you want the white or black pieces to play?” Lena clarified.

Kara let out a sigh of relief, “White please…I read that they go first and I have a feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

Lena laughed at the comment and any tension that had been in the room evaporated as Kara smiled in return. 

The next hour consisted of Kara listening with rapt attention to the beautiful woman across from her…so she heard maybe every tenth word. Who could blame her though? Lena was practically glowing with excitement when attempting to teach Kara this game that obviously held so much meaning to her. Instead of playing, their time was mainly spent going over how all of the pieces move on the board and Lena interjecting stories about her and her father playing together.

It was amazing.

Before Kara knew it, it was almost midnight and Lena was now laying down across from her hugging Benji and Kara was leaning against the wall next to the bed with her feet crossed in front of her. Their chess tutorial had been abandoned in replacement of Kara giving full explanations about each picture on her wall Lena had seen earlier. Laughter constantly filled the room, which would thankfully drown at any sounds that escaped from Alex’s side of the apartment.

She was currently telling a story about the picture of her and Alex up in a tree when they were kids and how she had broken her arm a minute after it was taken. “—So anyway, Eliza had just finished baking cookies and I just couldn’t get down fast enough.”

Lena gave Kara a look of amused shock. “So you jumped?!”

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for food, Lena.” Kara nodded her head in laughter. “Also, I definitely used to be a person that leaped before they looked.”

“Used to?” Lena asked.

Kara stared at one of her pictures from her senior year at college. “I guess I found out that you could get hurt.”

“I mean, I’d say broken bones are definitely a consequence of that,” Lena reasoned.

“Among other things…” Kara added as she wasn’t thinking about physical repercussions anymore.

Lena also seemed to sense Kara’s unspoken thoughts. “Well, it’s a good think I’m here to protect you, if need be.”

This pulled Kara back to the present as she met Lena’s eyes. “My hero.”

They stayed like that for a beat longer than could be considered normal until Lena broke their shared gaze and began to sit up to run her fingers through mussed hair. “I should probably get going, there is some work I wanted to get done tomorrow to finish up this project so we can finally get back to our runs together.”

Kara hoisted herself up from her comfortable position and stood to smooth down her flannel shirt. “I only like the second part of that statement,” Kara joked as she held out a hand to help Lena off of her bed.

“Trust me, so do I.” Lena accepted the offered help and was pulled to her feet with ease. They then walked like that, hand in hand, to the front door as Lena bid farewell to Benji in Kara’s room. Kara had promised to bring Lena’s discarded work clothes to their next run, but only as long as she would get Lena’s cardigan back in return.

This left them standing at the door with Kara shifting her weight back and forth and hoping Lena couldn’t feel the sweat she knew was forming on her palm.

Lena was the first to move. She released Kara’s hand, much to her own dismay, but that quickly disappeared as she observed both of Lena’s hands raise to cup Kara’s face. Lena stared into Kara’s eyes with such intent and adoration, like words weren’t enough to convey what she wanted Kara to know. She then moved her hands to slide over Kara’s shoulders to her back in order to pull Kara into the most tender hug she’s ever experienced. Kara felt Lena tuck her head in the crook of her neck and inhale deeply, as if she wanted to have every sense catalogued for this exact moment in her memory.

After what was considered three times longer than a friendly hug that Kara had zero intention of ending because she decided that her home was now in Lena’s arms, the other woman pulled back ever so slightly.

Then Kara felt it.

Warm lips delicately placed on her cheek as Lena’s hand arrived on the opposite side to support her in the most caring way.

Kara felt the nerve endings on the side of her face spark to life. Lena’s soft lips on her skin now formed a direct line to her heart, the current cascading down her neck from its point of origin and reaching the destination of Kara’s ever expanding heart.

Lena removed her lips too soon for Kara’s liking, but kept her hand on her cheek as she took a step back to look her in the eyes. She brushed Kara’s skin with her thumb and gave her a half smile. “I don’t think I’ll ever not be surprised by your level of thoughtfulness.” 

Kara stared back, the shock of what had just happened not having worn off. To give herself some time she reached up to place her hand over Lena’s. They stayed like that for a bit, just existing in the moment until Kara finally got her bearings.

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop surprising you then.”

They both smiled as Kara squeezed Lena’s hand. Lena gave one last stroke of her thumb as she brought it down to her side. “I’ll see you this week?”

“You can count on it.” Kara opened the door for Lena and leaned against the side.

Lena ducked her head as she moved towards the hall. “Goodnight Kara Danvers.”

Kara smiled. “Good night Lena Luthor.”

She slowly shut the door, only to turn around and slide down on her back to the floor, all the while holding her hand on the cheek that was just privy to Lena’s lips.

At that moment she heard a moaned, “ _Oh my God_.” From Alex’s bedroom.

She was too much in a daze right now to care. She just continued to smile to herself, recalling every last detail of the last five minutes over and over in her head as she muttered her own, “Oh my God.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there! Thank you for reading friends :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. This is my longest chapter yet and it definitely took a lot out of me, but I'm pretty proud of how it turned out  
> 2\. There IS some conflict, but it's resolved by the end and brings Kara and Lena closer  
> 3\. Trigger warning for mean girl bullying

“That girl is completely head over heels for you.” Alex tried to explain to Kara.

It was the morning after game night and Alex and Maggie were snuggled together on the couch with warm mugs of coffee in their hands while Kara sat in the arm chair sipping a hot chocolate. She had had a restless sleep, her heart rhythm refusing to return to its regularly scheduled programming after it had skyrocketed when Lena’s lips graced her cheek. So she had laid in her bed (the gift from Lena) and cuddled Benji (who now smelled like Lena) while her mind raced with thoughts about Winn…just kidding, they were about Lena.

“But are you sure because—” Kara was cut off by the women across from her.

“YES!” Alex and Maggie exclaimed in bored unison.

“You guys couldn’t keep your hands off of each other AND she practically kissed you goodnight.” Alex justified, talking slowly as if trying to explain quantum theory to a ten year old. 

Kara turned to Maggie to encourage her to share her input. “Yeah, Kara, honestly it was like looking at a train wreck if both trains were oblivious lesbians. I wanted to look away from the sheer cringy denseness of both of you, but it’s just so interesting to watch.”

Kara clutched her mug tightly and took a breath inhaling the sweet steam. Lena liked Kara. Her best friend, Lena Luthor, supposedly would be receptive to Kara telling her how she felt.

Holy shit.

“How are you doing over there?” Alex shifted to face her sister with a softened expression seeming to notice that Kara _finally_ had her dawning realization regarding Lena’s feelings.

“I feel like I want to jump up and down, but throw up at the same time?”

Alex chuckled to herself. “Sounds about right…also, if we ever start a band we are totally calling ourselves lesbian train wreck.”

* * *

Kara had some time to sort through her next steps with her new enlightenment regarding her friendship/relationship with Lena. I mean, she had just told the girl she was her best friend. Was it weird to be like, _just kidding, I actually want to date you_?

After a pleasant forest run on Tuesday she decided not to organize any kind of grand gesture or plan a romantic evening. She just wanted to keep being Kara and Lena, but now with the knowledge to interpret any signals from Lena that said _it’s okay I just called you my best friend, I actually want to date you too…o_ r something along those lines. I mean, let’s be real, the last time Kara went to ask Lena a seemingly important question she basically destroyed Lena’s office. It was probably for the best that she just let nature take its course.

As Kara was getting in her car, slightly riddled with mud and a fresh sheen of sweat on her skin, she heard her phone sound like it was having a heart attack of text messages. A repercussion of running where you don’t get cell service for an hour.

**_Lena:_ ** _I finally finished this God forsaken project!_

**_Lena :_ ** _Jess is making me take two days off…_

**_Lena:_ ** _Can I meet you at your work tomorrow for a lunch run?_

**_Lena:_ ** _I can bring you food?_

She balanced her water bottle against the steering wheel as she typed:

**_Kara:_ ** _Let’s do it! No snack required, but none will be turned away :)_

As soon as the message was sent she felt a spark of excitement in her belly. Kara grinned to herself as she tossed her water bottle and phone in the seat next to her, turned her car on and began to plan her outfit choice for tomorrows run.

* * *

Kara was humming as she organized a new shipment of clothing with Winn in the corner of the store. Her shift had started early in the morning and it seemed like each hour was taking painstakingly longer to pass by then the one before it. However, it was finally almost time for her lunch break and she was buzzing with excitement. She made an excuse to go to the stock area and stopped in the open changing room to check on her appearance in the full length mirror.

Kara chose to wear pale blue shorts that showed off her lean tan legs and a form fitting black long sleeve shirt that accentuated her broad shoulders. She brushed off some cardboard particles from opening shipment boxes and tightened her pony tail.

Winn suddenly appeared behind her, visible in the mirror. “Watcha doinnn?”

She startled and grabbed at her heart. “Jesus, Winn, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

He held up his hands to show he meant no harm. “Sorry buddy, just checking in.” Winn leaned against the far wall opposite of the open changing room door and observed her preening. “Are you expecting any _special_ visitors today?”

Kara broke into a timid grin before she could stop herself.

Winn’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh my God, you are! I was just kidding.” He squeezed into the small changing room to sit on the chair in the corner and crossed his legs dramatically. “Tell. Me. Everything.”

She laughed at Winn’s antics. “I don’t know, there isn’t much to tell yet.” She hadn’t come out to anyone besides her sister and Maggie, who were pretty safe seeing as they were both queer themselves. She picked at the edge of her sleeve weighing her options.

Kara observed Winn’s giddy excitement and made her decision. “Well, Lena is coming at lunch to go on a run with me…”

She looked to the grinning man sitting in the corner and witnessed his thought process on his face. First, confusion, then realization of what Kara’s words meant, then a look of surprise and finally ending where he had started—with a smile.

“Dude, it’s almost lunch time! Why are we back here? Go out to the front and get ready for your lady, Danvers!”

Kara felt a rush of relief and appreciation for her friend wash over her as she was gently shoved out of the dressing room and guided towards the front counter of the store. Winn insisted that she could stay there and he would take care of the rest of the organizing hidden in the corner “So as to not interrupt anything” and to “Let him know if he needs to give her the shovel talk.”

Kara just laughed and thanked the universe for giving her such cool people in her life.

* * *

She couldn’t keep staring at the door anymore. She turned and tried to busy herself with organizing the fuel bars and sports drinks that were displayed on the back wall. Smoothing out creases in wrappers and turning bottles to display labels. Anything to keep her hands busy and mind occupied.

That’s when she heard it. The familiar *click click click* of stiletto heels on hardwood. Kara spun around with a smile already gracing her lips. “It’s going to be hard to run in heel--”

The rest of her sentence was caught in her throat when her eyes landed on the source of the footsteps. The woman’s brown hair was tied into a professional high pony tail with dress slacks, a blouse and a very gaudy handbag perched on her shoulder.

“Kara?” A familiar voice rung out.

Her mouth went dry as she realized who was standing before her. “Lucy…”

She hadn’t seen or heard from Lucy since leaving college. God, she barely spoke to her Senior year, and now she was here, in National City in her running store. 

Kara’s stomach clenched in shock.

In school she had learned to handle her presence after everything that transpired between them. Navigated the awkward times they had to train in the same group or attended the same social events, but just because she could handle it didn’t mean it ever actually became easy or enjoyable.

All she could recall in this moment was the anxiety and sadness she would push down about losing her friend because of how she felt and then plaster the façade of a normal person on her face.

The other woman yielded a look of surprise. “Wow, how funny. Wait, do you work here?”

Kara suddenly felt small. “Um, yeah. Can I help you with something?”

She didn’t know how to respond to the current situation, so she decided to default to her customer service persona. Friendly, but distant. But then Lucy didn’t answer right away and just tutted at the store’s surroundings.

Kara felt the need to fill the empty silence. “How have you been?”

Lucy browsed through the men’s running shirts as she answered distractedly, ”I’ve been good, you know, just in town for a business trip and thought I would pick up a present for Mike.”

She glanced towards Kara to observe her reaction. Kara’s face contorted in a flurry of emotions, “M-mike, as in…?” She couldn’t finish her sentence.

Lucy chuckled to herself as she held up a short sleeve shirt to inspect, but then deemed it unworthy and replaced it on the rack. “Yeah, that Mike.” She winked, not at all concerned with the blatant distress she was giving Kara. “We started dating after graduation.”

“Oh.” Kara just nodded while staring intently at a knot in the wood on the flooring trying to remain relatively composed at learning that her ex-boyfriend and first girl crush were now together.

Lucy continued to browse, sparingly making eye contact with the anxious woman behind the counter. “It was funny, after we had been dating for a bit we got to talking one night and when I told him about your little love confession to me, he literally had no idea that was why you broke up with him!” She smiled in amusement to herself. “Can you imagine? He had no idea.” Lucy seemed to find a piece of clothing to her liking and approached Kara to set it down next to the register. “Anyway, we had a nice laugh about it.”

Those were it, those were the words that broke her all over again. 

“You laughed about me?” She was trying her best to keep her tears at bay, but it was a losing battle and her voice was cracking through her question.

“Well, yeah! I mean, the way you came to my door all dressed up and holding flowers with your big Bambi eyes literally the day after you broke up with him? And now _we’re_ dating? I mean, come on, it’s hilarious.”

Right as Lucy was about to make another comment, another woman walked into the store with a bounce to her step. She was dressed in running clothing and was holding a small bag from a bakery.

“Hey Kara!” Lena greeted cheerfully, completely unaware of the tension emanating throughout the room. “I brought you a donut as a pre-run snack and thought we could get food at that diner near here afterward?”

Kara was at a loss. The girl who had broken her heart years ago was now standing next to the woman who was helping her put it back together. She just kept looking from Lena to Lucy, not comprehending how they could be existing in the same space.

Lena interpreted her actions in a different way. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you with a customer. I’ll just leave this here.” She placed the bag containing the pastry next to Kara’s hand that was clenched tight on the side of the counter.

Reactively, Kara reached out to Lena to squeeze her hand quickly in thanks and managed to form an acceptable smile. She then forced her mouth to move. “Thanks Lee.”

Kara started to ring up Lucy for the shirt she had brought up to the counter and hadn’t noticed how her eyes had followed Kara’s hand on Lena’s and was now wearing a knowing smile.

“I see some things haven’t changed,” Lucy muttered to herself, but at a volume that was clearly intended to be heard by everyone.

Lena turned to Lucy inquisitively as Kara’s insides were violently rearranging themselves, her heart now in her throat and her stomach dropping like a rock.

Lucy noticed and met her stare as she blindly handed Kara her credit card. “I’m actually an old friend of Kara’s from college.” She held out her hand. “I’m Lucy.”

Lena accepted her handshake and gave a smile as she recognized the name. “Oh! Lucy the yoga expert!” Lena excitedly stated. “I bet you have some pretty wild stories about this one from college.” she motioned to Kara. “Dancing on tables and such.”

Lucy looked at Kara as she felt herself slowly falling apart from the inside out. “I actually have a really funny story about one night where Kara came to my dorm room you might appreciate.”

At that moment Kara heard a shuffling from the corner of the store and Winn strode over with purposeful steps towards the front counter. He positioned himself facing Lucy, effectively blocking her view of Lena. His chest was puffed out as he spoke in a stern voice. “I believe you are all paid for Ma’am.” He reached out for the purchased item and put it in a bag to shove in Lucy’s direction with a little more force than necessary.

Lucy was visibly put off by this gesture and tried to peer around Winn and continue wreaking havoc on Kara’s anxiety. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted--”

But Winn was having none of it. He was clearly in big brother mode. “Have a great day.” He firmly stated as he blocked her view from Lena again.

It seemed Lucy gathered she was fighting an uphill battle and finally conceded. She turned to Kara one last time. “Nice seeing you, Danvers.”

Danvers. What she used to call her on their early morning yoga meetups, when getting brunch together and sitting on the same side of the booth to stay warm or bringing her an extra sports drink for after practice. It used to sound like honey coming out of Lucy’s mouth, but now it stung as it met Kara’s ears.

Kara felt the air turn stale around her. She watched as Lucy exited the store gracefully, as if she hadn’t just left the aftermath of an emotional hurricane in her wake.

Kara looked to Winn and Lena. Winn held Kara with a caring gaze, having no doubt heard the entire conversation with herself and Lucy while Lena just exuded confusion with knitted brows.

“What was that about?” Lena asked as she went to touch Kara’s shoulder in question. However, as soon as Kara felt the contact she jerked away, her thoughts racing. It was all too much. She was hurt, angry, confused, embarrassed. The emotional scars that she thought had healed from years ago now freshly open once again.

Lena’s hand tentatively retreated back to her side with a flash of rejection crossing her face.

Kara hated that she just did that and she was responsible for Lena’s hurt expression. She made pleading eye contact with Winn, not knowing what to do because all she wanted was to flee.

“I can cover the store Kara, you can get out of here if you want,” Winn offered.

She nodded in his direction in thanks as she grabbed her phone and keys, not bothering to collect her backpack.

She turned to Lena, her mouth opening and closing trying to find the words, but all she could come up with was, “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

Kara heard Lena yelling after her as she ran out of the store, but she didn’t stop. She was too busy trying to escape the wave after wave of emotions coursing through her body. Her car was in the lot next to the store, but she was going off of instincts right now and in her mind it made perfect sense to use her body as transportation.

It worked when she was younger, exerting herself so much that it felt like she would shed her emotions along her route in the form of beads of sweat or gasping breaths. There was just so much right now, she was overflowing and couldn’t move her legs fast enough in order to take the edge off.

Kara hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going, and definitely had no idea how much time had passed since leaving the store when her lower body finally screamed loud enough for her to come to a stop.

That was enough to break the dam. It came out in choked sobs as she braced her hands on her knees for support. Kara backpedaled until she felt rough brick on her back because she didn’t trust herself to keep upright and needed a solid structure to feel grounded. 

Kara ended up sitting against the building at some point, thankful her body had given out on a side street with no one around to bother her with concern and after her crying eventually turned to hiccups dispersed through labored breathing she absently stared in front of her. It was a cloudy day, gray encapsulating the sky and making everything appear dull. Blunted.

She stayed like that for some time, just existing before ultimately realizing she had no idea where she was. Her journey to her current location was a complete blur. She really didn’t feel like calling a car service to pick her up in this state so she looked at her phone in thought. After making her decision she tapped the name she scrolled to on her screen. It rang once before the person on the other line picked up.

“Hey. I’m sorry to bother you, but do you think you could pick me up?”

* * *

A black sedan pulled up next to Kara, who was now sitting on a run-down cement curb still staring off into the distance.

The car window rolled down. “Need a ride?”

Maggie gave a look of concern, but showed her a welcoming smile nonetheless. Kara didn’t know who else to call. Alex had been working a big case at the FBI, she wasn’t ready to discuss any of this with Lena and Winn was busy covering for her at the store.

After Kara got in and eased the door shut Maggie gave her a once over with kind eyes. “Are you physically hurt anywhere Kara?”

She shook her head, which was enough for Maggie to turn her attention to starting up the car and merge into traffic.

They drove in silence for a couple of blocks, which Kara chose to break eventually. “Thanks for picking me up Maggie, sorry if it was out of your way.”

Maggie waved her off with her hand. “Not a problem at all, little Danvers.” She then started to drum on the steering wheel to fill the silence until she finally asked. “Do you want to talk about why I had to pick you up?”

She did. She did want to talk about it, but the problem was there was just so much to say and it seemed too daunting to find the words.

“I can try…”

Maggie looked over and gave her an encouraging nod.

Once Kara started, it was like she couldn’t get the words out fast enough. She was tumbling through telling her about college with Mike and Lucy and then going full speed into depicting this afternoon at the store. All the hurt and confusion she felt mixed in with sweet innocent Lena. 

Her phone kept buzzing, but she wasn’t ready to exist to anyone that wasn’t in this car. Not yet.

Once Kara finished she realized that her cheeks were wet again. 

Maggie reached for a packet of tissues from her glovebox and handed them to Kara in a caring gesture, which she gratefully accepted as her shirt sleeves were still damp from her previous tears. “So, let me get this straight. You broke up with a boy in college, to tell this girl that you had feelings for her. She starts acting like jerk-girl and blew you off, effectively breaking your heart. Fast forward to today and jerk-girl is dating boy from college. Jerk-girl starts acting like super-jerk-girl, while Lena, the woman you currently have feelings for, arrives and has no idea what’s happening?”

“More or less,” Kara replied as she wiped her face clean.

Maggie let out a slow breath as she pulled onto Kara’s street. She pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park. “Well first of all, I’m very surprised that I didn’t pick you up from a bar...or at least a Ben and Jerry’s because _Jesus_ Kara! That just sounds like a lot to deal with all at once.”

Kara choked out a laugh between her shaky breathing.

“I think the important thing to remember about this whole thing is that hiding amongst all of that shittiness, which there seems to be plenty of, don’t get me wrong, is that you have people who care about you and have your back. One of which is sitting next to you, one is currently being a badass at the FBI and the others seem to be trying to care about you at this very moment.“ Maggie motioned to Kara’s phone, which continued to vibrate periodically.

Kara nodded to acknowledge Maggie’s heartfelt statement, but her mind seemed blocked off. Unwilling to let any further realizations or emotions through the cracks lest it cause the dam to break again.

“Do you mind if I make a stop here really quick?” She motioned to the corner store they were parked near.

“Um, sure. That’s fine.” Kara went to unbuckle her seatbelt, but Maggie stopped her.

“You stay here. I’ll just run in, it’ll only take a second.”

Five minutes later Maggie returned to the car with a large paper grocery bag and set it on Kara’s lap. “I didn’t know what your poison was, so I got all of the classics so you can properly drown your sorrows today.” The detective moved to tenderly squeeze Kara’s shoulder. “Just don’t forget to come back up for air, okay?”

She shifted the bag on her lap and peered inside to see ice cream, cookies, chocolate and a bottle of something Maggie clearly needed to show ID for.

Kara mustered a small smile. “Thanks Maggie. Alex is lucky to have you.”

Maggie smiled in return at the mention of Kara’s older sister. “Well, I’ve accepted that the Danvers sisters come as a package deal, so you’re stuck with me in your life too as long as Alex will have me.”

Kara crinkled the top of the bag to have something to do with her hands. “I think I can handle that.”

She felt the briefest sense of calm prod through her guarded walls and momentarily distract her from the overwhelming storm that was currently raging on her insides. Kara moved to open the car door, but then turned back to Maggie. “You can tell Alex about this, you know. I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything.”

Maggie genuinely chuckled. “That’s good to hear. I’ll give her a call to let her know you’re safe and at home.”

Kara didn’t really know how to end their interaction, so she just nodded to Maggie and left the car. As she stepped in front to look for oncoming traffic in order to cross the street she heard the electric whirring of a car window being rolled down. “Take care of yourself, Kara.” Maggie donned a pair of aviators, turning on her detective mode. “And I’ll let the jaywalking slide just this once.”

Kara shook her head, one side of her lips tugging upward as she clutched the bag to her chest and gave a small wave of her hand in acknowledgement. She walked the remaining stretch to her apartment letting the weight and coldness from the parcel in her arms keep her in the present before she allowed her swirling thoughts to take over again.

* * *

Several hours later Kara found herself sitting on the couch staring mindlessly at some trashy reality television show. As soon as she had entered the apartment she had went straight to the couch and plopped down with her wallowing supplies. The ice cream was her first victim. However, once she realized she needed a spoon and the idea of getting up to go to the kitchen seemed on par with hiking Mt. Everest, the cookies were also opened to be used as edible serving utensils.

Kara sat, scooping her cookies into the cold treat repeatedly, almost in a robotic fashion. And sometime around when she was finished with half of the carton she realized her mind had activated some kind of defense mechanism. It was like her ability to feel emotions had blown a fuse. She had been using so much energy to simply feel everything all at once that her body just shut down into a blank numbness.

So she continued: cookie, scoop, bring to mouth, repeat.

Her phone kept buzzing periodically, but it was on the coffee table and she was on the couch. Clearly too far for her to reach. That’s the excuse she gave herself for not answering, even though the real reason was that it was easier to just sit here, in her own little world of sugar and semi-scripted programming.

When she only had about a quarter of the ice cream carton left (because that was how she was measuring time now) Kara decided to lay down. But whenever she tried to get comfortable, it felt like something was poking her in the side. She mustered the energy to shove her hand in between the couch cushions and found a small piece of rectangular wood.

Jenga. Game night. Lena.

Kara turned it over in her hand, running her fingers over the rough edges while recalling that night. Her eyes landed on her phone next and she let out a sigh. She needed to at least let her know she was okay.

Kara launched her arm towards her phone and her hand slapped down on the screen. She the dragged it to the very end of the table, preparing for the onslaught of notifications. 

When she brought it in front of her eyes she saw she had 8 missed calls, 5 voicemails and 17 new text messages, all of which were a collective effort from her Alex, Maggie, Winn and Lena.

She sent the same thing to Alex, Maggie and Winn:

**_Kara:_ ** _Home and safe, I’ll talk to you soon._

But when she got to Lena, she thought she deserved more. A simple text message wouldn’t make up for how Lena looked at her as she ran away.

**_Kara:_ ** _Come over please?_

She received a response from Lena immediately.

**_Lena:_ ** _I’ll be there in 10 minutes_

Kara heard a soft knock on the door eight minutes later, or 6 cookie/ice cream cycles. She stood to walk to the door and her legs wobbled from sitting for so long after running and she heard a sprinkle of crumbs cascade down her shirt to the floor.

She didn’t have the energy to care so she just dusted off her black shirt and shuffled over to open the door. Kara rested her forehead on the wooden frame and let her eyes fall closed as she gripped the handle. She could do this, she could be a functioning person.

Kara stepped back, opened her eyes, cleared her throat and swung the door open.

Lena had changed out of her running clothes Kara had seen earlier and was now in jeans, her MIT shirt and her hair up in a messy bun. She looked disheveled with slightly sullen features covered by her thick framed glasses, not the usual picture of composure Kara recognized.

Kara was still holding the handle tight and took a step to flank the door with her side for support. “Hi.”

Lena formed a tight smile and gave a little wave.

After an awkward pause Kara motioned for Lena to come in and she led her over to the couch.

They both sat, Lena scooting to the far end of the couch with her hands clasped together tightly in her lap. She eyed the coffee table with splatters of melted ice cream and cookie crumbs littering one side while Kara hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top.

“Thank you for coming over.” Kara started, her voice slightly strangled. The numbness she had grown accustomed to for the past couple of hours was slowly wearing off the more she looked at the woman next to her.

“Of course, Kara.” Lena fiddled her thumbs, only making fleeting eye contact.

She couldn’t take it anymore. “Lena, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you there and then went radio silent.” Kara gestured to her phone. “You deserve better than that.”

Lena settled further into the couch and while her head was facing Kara, her eyes still remained elsewhere. “Kara, this is probably embarrassing to admit, but I haven’t cared about anyone as much as a care for you in quite some time.” Lena took a breath. “I have my fair share of stressors and things to worry about at work, but I haven’t had to worry about another person’s well-being like I did today in God knows how long. And then when you weren’t responding…I just didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”

Lena finally looked to Kara, glistening green eyes meeting blue. “You’re allowed to need space Kara, just, for my own sanity, can you please just let you know you’re safe?”

Kara nodded resolutely. “I will, I’m sorry I worried you”

Lena gave a small smile. “Thanks.” She shifted in her seat, with a questioning expression. “Can I – um—give you a hug?”

Kara dropped her legs so her position matched Lena’s. “Absolutely, you never have to ask.”

Lena played with the worn hem of her shirt. “I just wasn’t sure, after earlier when you pulled away…”

Kara found some strength and practically yanked Lena into a tight embrace. She spoke softly in her ear with one hand holding her close by her back and the other supporting the back of Lena’s head, “That had nothing to do with you, you did nothing wrong.”

She felt Lena nod her head against her shoulder while Kara let the scent of jasmine wash over her, instilling some level of calm to her overshot nerves.

They separated, now in their typical proximity to each other with their knees touching. Lena cleared her throat. “Enough about me.” She stared at Kara earnestly. “You don’t have to talk about what happened today if you don’t want to, but I’m here for whatever you need.”

Kara blinked a couple of times. She didn’t really think through why she had invited Lena over or what she was going to say, she just knew that Lena was owed an apology and her presence seemed to make things a little bit more bearable.

“I want to talk about it with you, if that’s okay.”

Lena gave an encouraging half smile. “Of course.”

“We, um, well I—” Kara’s stomach started to churn, but not because it was only filled with cookies and ice cream. Her palms were now sweating and she could feel her heart pick up pace while wringing her hands. “I sort of only told you the abridged version of what happened with Lucy and I in college.”

Kara ran her fingers through her hair that had long been taken down from its pony tail and now fell loosely over her shoulders. “We started to hang out a lot when she was teaching me yoga and we ended up getting close…like really close.”

Lena considered this. “Okay, I imagine that’s normal when you’re spending so much time together.”

“No, well yes, but that’s not quite what I mean.” Kara’s crinkle made an appearance on her forehead as she deeply tried to figure out what she wanted to say. “I…realized that I had--.” Kara hesitated preparing for the admission she was about to make. “--feelings for her, like _feelings_ feelings. Feelings that I should have had for Mike.”

Kara paused to see Lena’s reaction. She was slowly nodding her head, face held a practiced neutral expression, but understanding eyes. “Oh.”

“Yeah, my reaction was way less subtle back then.” Kara gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Anyway, I ended up breaking it off with Mike and went to Lucy’s dorm the next night to tell her how I felt.”

Kara took a breath to steady herself. “I was all excited, right? I was convinced that Lucy was going to like me back, so I got her flowers and put on my favorite blue dress. Then before I know it I’m standing there outside her dorm room with a smile plastered on my face like an idiot.”

She rolls her eyes as she’s recalling her young ignorance. “I gave Lucy the flowers and professed my feelings to her. And, you know me, rambling is kind of my strong suit, so I probably went on for a good 10 minutes because she never stopped me. She just kept staring at me until finally I couldn’t take it anymore and asked her to say something, anything.”

Kara held her face in her hands and dragged them down slowly, tugging at her cheeks as she grappled with the past memories she had never described in so much detail to another person.

“What did she say, Kara?” Lena questioned with a soft gaze, not prying but prompting her back to the present.

“She told me to leave and that we shouldn’t hang out anymore…” Kara repositioned herself so she was sitting on her legs, mostly just to have something else to focus on. “That night was just—it changed me. I had never felt that level of rejection before. I lost my boyfriend and best friend within 24 hours.”

Kara recalled the events of earlier in the day. “And then today, when I saw her again and all of those old memories came flooding back and the things she said—it was just too much.”

Lena furrowed her brows in confusion and was about to say something when Kara rambled everything out. All of the hurtful things Lucy had let so perilously and nonchalantly directed towards Kara. As she was explaining, she could see Lena’s face steadily shift from shock, to anger and then finally to empathy.

When Kara was finally done. Like, really done airing out everything that had been swirling around her mind all day long she felt utterly exhausted. Which is why when Lena practically tackled her into a hug Kara couldn’t support herself and both women fell backwards with her back hitting the couch cushions and Lena effectively sprawled on top of her.

Kara actually giggled, which she didn’t think was physically possible at this point. She could hear muffled words spoken into the crook of her neck about how sorry Lena was that she had to go through all of that and then a lot of expletives when describing her feelings towards Lucy.

Lena sat up and smoothed down stray hairs that had fallen out of her bun in their collision. “I’m going to go fix you a drink, yeah? Lord knows I need one after even listening to everything you went through today.”

She waltzed over to the drink cart as Kara righted herself on the couch and watched her methodically tinker away while smelling various bottles (all of which belonged to Alex). Two glasses were clutched in her hands when she returned, both holding the same brown liquid with ice cubes clinking the sides.

Lena held one out to her, which she tentatively accepted. Hard alcohol had never really been her forte.

“This drink got me through plenty of rough times.” Lena explained as she returned to her seat next to Kara.

Kara inspected the glass. “What’s in it?”

“Whiskey.” Lena replied flatly, but with a smile playing on her lips.

“Quite the bartender, you are.” Kara returned a semblance of a smile.

Kara thought back again while she sipped at her drink and how the past and recent events have shaped into each other.

“I was closed off for a really long time because of what happened back then.”

Lena brought her attention away from her drink and back to Kara.

“I just kind of became this social butterfly. I was friends with a lot of people but no one really _knew_ me because I was just too scared to show anyone again.” Kara felt the familiar burn reappear behind her eyes. “I was too scared I would lose them.”

Kara motioned to Lena and she felt a smile fighting its way onto her face again. “But then you came along. And you were kind and clever and funny and just – I couldn’t help but not be myself with you. My whole self.”

Miraculously, tears were still left in Kara’s body and several started to roll down her cheeks. Before she could wipe them away, Lena reached out to brush them aside. She dried them on her pants and then reached out a second time to hold Kara’s free hand with a firm grounding grasp.

“I’m so lucky to get to know _you_ then, Kara Danvers.” It was now Lena’s turn to try to stave off tears.

“I’m here.” Lena looked intently in Kara’s eyes. “I’m. here. And I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

Kara nodded her head because that was all she could do at this point.

Lena discarded her glass amongst the wreckage on the coffee table to scoot closer to her and open up her arms in invitation. Kara took one last sip of her drink, feeling the warmth spread through her body, before placing it next to Lena’s. She slid next to her and rested her head on Lena’s shoulder as the tears subsided and protective hands ran up and down her side.

Kara had no idea how much time passed as Lena held her. Her world finally shrinking down to just two heartbeats and the steady rise and fall of slowing breaths.

“Veronica Sinclair.” Lena’s voice broke their comfortable silence.

Kara stirred from her spot and tilted her head to try to catch Lena’s eyes in question.

“She was my Lucy. Well, more like a Lucy knockoff because it seems like they broke the mold after they made that one.” 

Kara’s mental capacity was waning and she was in the midst of putting together what exactly Lena’s statement implied when she did it for her.

“She lived across the hall from me when I went to boarding school. We became fast friends because of our shared love of books and stashing good booze to share. I may have been a bit a rebel in my youth.” Lena to herself. 

Kara pulled back further to fully view Lena, wanting to get a picture of the vulnerability she could sense in the quiver of her voice.

“We spent a lot of time together, much like you and Lucy. I noticed there was something there, between us, that I hadn’t’ really felt before. I didn’t even know what it was until one night I found myself kissing her.”

Lena paused, her hand stilled on Kara’s arm.

Kara’s mind started buzzing, taking a detour from the pit of negative emotions she had embodied earlier and now landing somewhere in the realm of excitement and anticipation.

Lena liked girls.

“That was really brave, “ Kara stated, sensing Lena’s need for a lifeline and realizing she needed to be a friend to her right now, not geek out about her more than possible reciprocated feelings. 

The soothing movement along Kara’s side returned as Lena spoke up again. “The line between bravery and stupidity can be very thin then,” Lena smiled through her painful memory. 

“Veronica didn’t really react afterward, just sort of pretended that it didn’t even happen the rest of the night. Anyway, the next day she put in for a housing transfer and moved dorms.”

Lena sighed deeply as Kara tucked her head back close and placed an arm around Lena’s torso giving her a squeeze. Kara then eyed the contents on the coffee table and reached out to grab a cookie and dip it in the mostly melted ice cream to hand to Lena and return to cuddling her.

“This food has gotten me through plenty of rough times.” Kara joked, surprising herself with the lighthearted words.

Lena’s chest rumbled with some laughter, and even though clearly disgusted, she accepted the peace offering and took a bite. “We should really get some actual food in that belly of yours.” Lena poked a finger at a toned stomach.

“This is actual food Lena!” Kara protested motioning towards the mess on the coffee table. 

Lena had made it so easy to just return to normal. Kara definitely wasn’t functioning at 100%, but she was well on her way and she didn’t even want to think about how long it would have taken without Winn being her big brother, Maggie coming to her rescue and Lena just being Lena. Kara was also sure as soon as Alex came home she would help sweep up the rest of the pieces left from this disastrous day.

Lena shifted in her seat to dig her phone from her back pocket and start looking for food options that at least involved some kind of vegetable. After some debate about what constituted as a “vegetable”(because French fries are technically potatoes, which are vegetables), they decided on getting sandwiches delivered…with a side of fries.

The rest of the night then consisted of comfortable cuddling on Kara’s couch, scoffing down their sandwiches once they were delivered and heckling the reality show that Kara had somehow become invested in throughout the day.

Kara’s eyes were starting to flutter shut, as it had been dark outside for some time now and Lena noticed. “Hey sleepy head, do you want to go to bed? I can clean up in her and head out?”

Kara only snuggled deeper next to Lena and emitted a groan and a groggy, “Moving bad.”

Today’s exhaustion clearly had no impact on her ability to communicate.

Lena untangled her body from an unwilling Kara and stood up to hold out her hands. “Come on then, I didn’t buy you that mattress so you could sleep on the couch.”

Kara couldn’t really hold up an argument to that so she conceded and allowed Lena to pull up her almost dead weight to an upright position. She shuffled to her bedroom as she heard Lena just drag the trash can over to the coffee table and get rid of the evidence Kara had ever wallowed.

She entered her room and peeled off her heavily tear stained clothing to replace them with a cotton t-shirt and sleep shorts. Kara made a quick trip to the bathroom to brush away all of the sugar from her teeth, remove her extra hydrated contacts and wash the day away from her face, including some chocolate that she was wondering how long it had been living on the side of her cheek.

After returning to her room she climbed into her bed and quickly felt her body sink comfortably, feeling sleep close on the horizon.

“Kara?” Lena appeared in her doorway. She walked over to sit on the edge of Kara’s bed and tuck a stay strand of hair away from her face. “I, um, think I’m going to head out unless you need anything else?”

Kara’s ability to communicate wasn’t the only thing that may or may not be affected by her sheer exhaustion. She also had absolutely no energy left for any self-doubt or overthinking. Which is why Kara found herself reaching out for Lena’s arm to stop her and asking, “Stay?”

She kept her eyes open long enough to see that smile that she dreamt of and hear her response, “Of course.”

That was all it took apparently, because before Kara knew it Lena was asking where to find some pajamas to change into and then a warm body was sliding in next to her. She found solace with her head guided onto Lena’s shoulder and her arm wrapped snuggly across her body with Lena’s arms encircling her.

“I’m here, darling.” Lena pressed her lips to Kara’s forehead. “I’m here.”

“Thank you.” Kara managed to whisper out before drifting off into slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lesbian Train Wreck "New band name, I call it!" -Andy Dwyer 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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